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HARRY ALEXANDER MACFADDEX 



RAMBLES IN THE 
FAR WEST. 



BY 



HARRY ALEXANDER 
MACFADDEN. 



Published by the 

STANDARD PRINTING HOUSE. 

Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. 



LIBRARY o( CONGRESS 

Two Conie$ Received 

AUG 24 1906 

Copyneiu Entry 

"■.ASS, -w^XXc, No 
COPY B. 



Copyright, 1906, 

By Harry Alexander MacFadden. 

All rights reserved. 



FOREWORD. 

The matter contained in the following pages descrip- 
tive of the tour made by the members of the National Edi- 
torial Association of the United States in the summer of 
1905 through the Middle West, West, Southwest and 
Pacific Coast of the United States, was originally publish- 
ed in the form of letters, by the author, in the Democratic 
Standard, at Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. 

Many of our friends of the Association, and others, 
who were much interested, but were unable to read all the 
letters, urged that they be collected and published in book 
form, so that they might be more generally read and circu- 
lated — hence this book. 

The general mass of our citizens have but vague and 
indefinite ideas of the great resources, vast extent, unlimited 
possibilities and golden opportunities of our great land 
beyond the Missisippis River. If any of our readers shall 
obtain any pleasure, satisfaction, profit and better knowledge 
of the Greatest Republic on the face of the earth by the 
perusal of these pages we will be well repaid for our labor. 

Since these letters went into print the awful earthquake 
disaster occurred at San Francisco; therefore the parts re- 
lating to that city and the illustrations thereof will have 
peculiar interest and value. 

We desire to acknowledge our appreciation of the 
courtesies extended us, in the matter of securing illustra- 
tions, by the Southern Pacific, Denver and Rio Grande, 
Rock Island, Santa Fe, Union Pacific and the Missouri, 
Kansas and Texas Railroads, and the Oregon Railroad 
and Navigation Company. 

Harry Alexander MacFadden. 
Hollidaysburg, Pa., July 10th, 1906. 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter I. The Beginning of the Journey 1 

Chapter 11. Guthrie, the Convention City 5 

Chapter III. Oklahoma, the Land of the Fair God, 

Its Beauties and PossibiHties 11 

Chapter IV. The Indian Pageant at the 101 Ranch 17 

Chapter V. The Indian Territory, where the Noble. 

Redmen Royally Entertain the Paleface 23 

Chapter VI. The Lone Star State, Texas a Mighty 

Empire 27 

Chapter VII. Dallas, Houston, Galveston, the 

Commercial Centers 31 

Chapter VIII. San Antonio, the Venice of Ameri- 
ca, the Alamo, the Missions 44 

Chapter IX. The Rio Grande, the Plains of West- 
ern Texas, the Pecos River Bridge, El Paso, 
Juarez, Mexico 54 

Chapter X. The Deserts of New Mexico and Ari- 
zona, the Cacti 65 

Chapter XI. The Plains and Valleys of California, 

the Golden State, the Sea of Salt 73 

Chapter XII. P.iverside, the Home of the Orange, 

the Magnolias 81 

Chapter XIII. Los Angeles, Pasadena, the Beauti- 
ful; Mount Lowe, the Alpine Tavern 86 

Chapter XIV. Santa Catalina Island, the Marine 

Gardens, the Leaping Tuna 95 

Chapter XV. Los Angeles, the City of the Angels, 

Its Power and Beauty 101 

Chapter XVL Santa Barbara, the Incomparable; 

the Newport of the Pacific 109 



PAGE 

Chapter XVII. Del Monte, the Superbly Beauti- 
ful ; Monterey, California's First Capital 115 

Chapter XVIIL Santa Cruz, the Atlantic City of 
the Sunset State ; the Sylvan Breakfast 'Neath 
the "Big Trees" 121 

Chapter XIX. The Nile-like Valleys, Stanford Un- 
iversity, Santa Clara Missions, San Jose 133 

Chapter XX. San Francisco, the Queen of the 

Golden Gate 141 

Chapter XXI. Chinatown, the Barbaric, Mystic 

and Wondrous 155 

Chapter XXII. Oakland, Mount Tamalpais, the 

Crookedest Railroad in the World 163 

Chapter XXIII. The Straits of Carnequinez, ths 
Largest Ferry Boat in the World, Sacramento 
the Capital 170 

Chapter XXIV. Dunsmuir, the Lady Barbers, the 

Lordly Mt. Shasta, Mt. Shasta Springs 176 

Chaper XXV. Our First GHmpse of Oregon ; Med- 

ford, Salem 183 

Chaper XXVI. Pordand, the Rose City ; the Lew- 
is and Clark Exposition, Sacajawea, the Indian 
Princess 187 

Chapter XXVIL The La Grande Valley, Hot 
Lake, Baker City, Boy Hunter Throws Gold at 
Deer 202 

Chapter XXVIII. Idaho, the Snake River Canyon, 

the Bear River Irrigation 214 

Chapter XXIX. Utah, the Mormon State, Its Ex- 
ploration and History 217 

Chapter XXX. Salt Lake City, the Great Salt 

Lake, the Tabernacle, the Temple the Mormons 221 



PAGE 

Chapter XXXI. On the way to Colorado, Glen- 
wood Springs the Wonderful, the Mineral Springs 
and Vapor Caves 230 

Chapter XXXII. The Canyon of the Grand, the 

Mount of the Holy Cross, the Royal Gorge 234 

Chapter XXXIII. Pueblo, the Pittsburg of the 

West 243 

Chapter XXXIV. Colorado Springs, the Scenic 
Spot of America ; Pike's Peak, the Sublime ; Man- 
itou, the Picturesque 247 

Chapter XXXV. The Garden of the Gods, the 
Enchanted Indian Temple of the Great Spirit 
Manitou 257 

Chapter XXXVI. South Cheyenne Canyon, the 

Spot of Poetic Beauty and Romance 262 

Chapter XXXVII. Denver, the City of Sunshine, 

The Parting of the Ways 271 



INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 
Portrait of the Author Frontispiece 

Union Depot, St. Louis 1 

Masonic Temple, Guthrie, Oklahoma 6 

Street Scene, Guthrie, Oklahoma 8 

View of Oil Town of Cleveland, Oklahoma 14 

Pets of La Sandia Ranch, Texas 24 

Herd of Texan Fat Steers 27 
Mexican Sheep Shearers at Dinner on a Texan Ranch 28 

Typical Residences, Houston, Texas 32 

Harbor and Shipping, Galveston, Texas 34 

First Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas 35 

Sea Wall and Bathing PaviHon, Galveston, Texas 36 

Mexican Bull Fight 60 

Tournament of Roses, Pasadena, California 86 

Hotel Raymond, Pasadena, California 88 

Bathing Hour at Avalon, Santa Catalina Island 95 

Handsome Catch of Albicore, Santa Catalina Island 96 

Tropical Park, Santa Catalina Island 98 

Rose Embowered Seminary, Los Angeles 101 

Typical Residence, Los Angeles 102 

Oil Wells in the Pacific Ocean, CaHfornia 108 

Hotel Potter and Santa Barbara Bay 109 

General View of Santa Cruz, California 121 

One Day's Catch of King Salmon, Santa Cruz 123 

Big Tree Grove, Santa Cruz 124 

The Wave Cave Santa Cruz 126 

Some Flower Embowered Homes, San Jose 133 

View of Santa Clara Valley, California 135 

Saint Claire Club House, San Jose 137 

Alum Rock Park, San Jose 138 



PAGE 

Sunset at the Golden Gate, San Francisco 141 

Dolores Mission, San Francisco 142 

Japanese Tea Garden, Golden Gate Park 144 

Italian Quarter, San Francisco 146 

Oriental Street Venders, San Francisco 148 

Strange Craft of All Nations, San Francisco 150 

Sentinel of the Tong, Chinatown 152 

Seals on Seal Rock, San Francisco 154 

Mexican Quarter, San Francisco 157 

Street of Residences, Chinatown 159 

Capitol Building and Park, Sacramento 170 
County Court House and Sutters Fort, Sacramento 174 

Snow Crowned Mount Shasta 180 

Street Scene, Baker City, Oregon 202 

Multnomah Falls, Oregon 213 

Valley of the Grand River, Colorado 230 

Hotel Colorado, Glenwood Springs 230 

Wampah Spring, Glenwood Springs 232 

Mammoth Swimming Pool, Glenwood Springs 234 

Mount of the Holy Cross, Colorado 239 

The Currecanti Needle, Colorado 240 

Cog Wheel Railroad Ascending Pike's Peak 247 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 
CHAPTER I. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY. 

THE National Editorial Association of the United 
States, at its session last year at St. Louis. Missouri, 
made a wise decision when it accepted the invitation, so 
generously extended, of the Press Association and Citizens' 
Committee to hold its meeting of 1905 at the city of Guth- 
rie, Oklahoma Territory. The Executive Committee of the 
Association fixed the dates of the 20th annual convention 
for June 7th, 8th and 9th, 1905 There had been so much 
disscussion in the press for several years about the vast 
resources and possibilities of Oklahoma and Indian Ter- 
ritories, and the desires of these two territories for entry 
into the Union as a single state, that all the editors were 
anxious to go upon the ground and view the situation over 
in person. 

The Pennsylvania editors being desirous of seeing new 
things, through the courtesy and consideration of Mr. A. S, 
Crane, General Passenger Agent, and Mr. F. H. Tristram, 
Assistant General Passenger Agent of the Wabash Railway, 
were enabled to view in the best style the wonders of en- 
gineering on that wonderful railroad from Pittsburg to St. 
Louis. It cost the Wabash over $50,000,000 to build its 
railroad into Pittsburg, and miles of solid rock had to be 

1 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

cut through before the city could be reached. In the first 
20 miles west out of that city are 18 tunnels, and in the 
first 60 miles 62 bridges are crossed by that road. 

The Wabash Railroad is one of the best constructed 
and most ably and safely conducted railroads in the whole 
country. Its equipment of cars and locomotives are of the 
most modern style and first-class in all respects. The 
management of the Wabash is wide-awake and progressive, 
and that system is destined to soon become one of the most 
powerful and complete organizations in the country. The 
editors thoroughly enjoyed their trip over the Wabash from 
Pittsburg to St. Louis. 

The editors from Maine to Florida, and from the Mid- 
dle West and all other parts of our great country, with their 
wives, daughters and sweethearts, made their rendezvous at 
St. Louis on June 5th preparatory to making a wholesale 
"rush" into the Territory. Through the kindness of the 
Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company, and the 
especial and able supervision of Mr. George Morton, the 
General Passenger Agent, and Mr. A. C. Miner, the Travel- 
ing Passenger Agent, the editors were provided two hand- 
some and perfectly equipped special trains to transport all 
the editors and their girls, old and young, to Guthrie. The 
name of the railway which has been such a potent factor in 
developing the Southwest, has become known to its friends 
and the public generally as the "Katy," so that when the 
scribes first heard that name they thought some little girl 
was being discussed, instead of a full grown and powerful 
railroad. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway has 
become one of the most popular highways for reaching 
Texas, Old Mexico, California and the Southwest from St. 

2 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Louis, and the equipment of cars and fast trains is first-class 
in every respect. 

The two special trains with their burden of brains, wit 
and beauty left the Union Depot, St. Louis, at one o'clock 
Tuesday afternoon, June 6th, for Guthrie, arriving there 
shortly after noon the following day. The majority of the 
delegates had never been in the "Woolly West" before, and 
from the time the special train left St. Louis the trip was 
full of interest and surprises for them. They opened their 
eyes in wonder when they saw the great and mighty "Father 
of Waters" at St. Louis, the grand Mississippi River, with its 
torrents sweeping to the sea. A short distance West of St. 
Louis the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad crosses the 
mighty Missouri River, which truly deserves its name, 
"The Big Muddy River," for it was bank-full of the yellow- 
est, muddy, clayey water we have ever seen. The river, 
it is said, carries acres and acres of land from the north 
down south to enrich the fields lying along its course and 
the course of the Mississippi, thus truly making one man's 
loss another's gain. 

The railroad followed the north bank of the Missouri 
River unfolding to the eastern eyes a panorama of vast 
level rich and fertile fields filled with corn, wheat and po- 
tatoes — the Na.tion's food — such as we had never dreamed. 
Yet when the shadows of evening began to fall and the 
boundaries of Kansas were reached and passed the traveler 
looked out upon a marvelous sight of wheat fields and corn 
rows glistening in the rays of the setting sun — vast, big 
beyond comprehension — apparently stretching in one un- 
broken line from horizon to horizon, having on its bosom 
more than enough to have fed all of Pharoh's countless 

3 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

armies. The rising of the next day's sun found the tourists 
speeding through the rich and fertile fields of the Indian 
Territory, which "blossomed as a rose," producing all kinds 
of grains and fruits in the richest profusion. A few hours 
later the party had passed into the borders of its bright and 
beautiful sister, Oklahoma Territory, where the verdure of 
the fields was of the brightest sempiternal green, and the 
wheat, in all its golden glory, was waiting for the harvester 
to shore its full and forceful grains to build up the bone and 
sinew of the nation. The vast pastures of green and suc- 
culent grass were dotted with thousands of sleek, fat cat- 
tle, such as make the juicy and toothsome porterhouse 
steaks, and none of Pharoh's lean and hungry kine were in 
those herds. The cattle of both the Indian and Oklahoma 
Territories are already famous for their sleekness and fine 
beef. They are most sought for in the great cattle markets 
of the west. The large herds of these two territories are 
continually augmented by fresh herds of yearlings and two- 
year-olds, which are brought up from the plains of Texas; as 
many as 100,000 a year, and fattened on the juicy grasses 
of the valleys of these two territories. Oklahoma means 
"The Land of the Fair God." Truly it is a fair land. 



CHAPTER 11. 

GUTHRIE — THE CONVENTION CITY. 

AT the city of Guthrie the editors were given a surprise 
of what western hospitahty means. Gutlirie, the cap- 
tal of what is destined to be one of the greatest and weahh- 
iest states of the West, is a city of 30,000 people, but did 
not have sufficient hotel accommodations for the some 700 
people in the editorial party, so the best citizens of the 
city — the merchants, doctors, lawyers, bankers and preach- 
ers, with graceful and spontaneous generosity, opened their 
homes and took the editors into the bosoms of their families 
and entertained them most royally during the convention. 
Many pleasant friendships were thus formed which will re- 
main through the rush of years to come. 

The Guthrie people had laid their plans well for the en- 
tertainment of the editors, and every man, woman and child 
entered with their whole souls into the work, and that city 
of 30,000 provided and cared for all the wants of the edi- 
torial writers as well as a city of 100,000 people could have 
done, and they were pardonably proud of the success of 
their efforts. 

The city of Guthrie is a wonderful place; a phenomo- 
non of the West. The history of its birth reads like a page 
from the Arabian Nights. Sixteen years ago the green 
and beautiful hills on which the pretty, prosperous, pro- 
gressive and populous city now stands were entirely unin- 

5 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




CARNEGIE LIBRARY, GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA 

habited. Suddenly, as if Aladdin had breathed upon his 
magic lamp, there was, on April 22d, 1889, a quick, start- 
ling and wonderful change, and tiie spot became, instantly, 
a city of 20,000 souls — not the beautirul, well regulated 
city of to-day — but a city of white tents and board shanties 
of the iirst Oklahoma "boomers." 

Those people — men, women and children, white and 
black and red, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Cathohc, 
non-behever and lover cf ail men, from all walks, classes 
and conditions of life, came from all parts of our great 
nation to build here a beautiful city and found a mighty 
and imperishable State. They were full of force, power, 
vim, vigor and virtue, and determined to build such a 
city as should rank with the best in the land. These 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

'^boomers" succeeded far beyond their most sanguine e::- 
pectations, and to-day Guthrie, with her 30,000 popula- 
tion, stands forth a beautiful, large, important, up-to-date, 
progressive city; a lasting monument to the perseverance 
and pluck of her citizens, which excited the praise and ad- 
miration of us all. We prophesy for Guthrie a bright and 
bailliant future, as the capital of the new State of Oklahoma, 
that soon is to be a bright star in our Nation's constellation. 
Guthrie is beautifully located on the Cottonwood River 
and has a perfect drainage system. The public buildings 
are handsome and stately. They have a United States 
Government building worth $150,000, a Masonic temple 
worth $75,000, a City Hall worth $50,000, a Carnegie H- 
brary worth $50,000, a $150,000 gas plant, a $250,000 
electric light plant, two telephone systems, fine business 
blocks and 40 large manufacturing plants. They have a 
perfect water system costing $150,000 and an excellent fire 
department. The city has fine, well graded streets, and 
miles of them. They have 60 miles of fine brick and ce- 
ment sidewalks. They have fine public and private shools, 
having about $300,000 invested in their school properties. 
An electric street railway of the most modem kind was 
completed just in time to give our party a ride about the 
city. The city is full of handsome and commodious homes. 
That the city is prosperous is shown by the fact that its 
four banks have deposits aggregating the tidy sum of be- 
tween $2,000,000 and $3,000,000. The future of Guthrie 
as the capital and a commercial metropolis is assured, for 
the competition in all lines is already made possible by the 
fact that eight railroads center in the city and another line 
is building. The people are peaceful, orderly, intelligent 

7 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

and have the religious affairs of the city well looked after 
by 17 large churches of all denominations. 

The sessions of the 20th Annual Convention of the 
National Editorial Association were held in the Brooks 
Opera House, a handsome and commodious play house 
which would do credit to a much larger city. In the ab- 
sence of Governor Ferguson, on account of his wife's ill- 
ness. Delegate Bird S. McGuire extended a hearty welcome 
on the part of Oklahoma Territory to the delegates. Guth- 
rie's welcome address to the Association was eloquently 
voiced by Mayor John W. Duke, while later, bui warm 
and friendly, came the greeting of Senator O. R. Fegan. 
To these generous warm words of welcome President W, 
W. Screws, of the National Editorial Association, made a 
happy and eloquent reply, voicing the appreciation, pleasure 
and satisfaction of each and every member of the noble 
array of writers at being in Guthrie, and at everything being 
done for their comfort and pleasure. After the convention 
was duly opened the meetings moved along like well-oiled 
machinery. A large amount of preliminary business and 
routine was speedily put through. The election of officers 
for 1905-06 was a harmonious affair, and in a few minutes 
the following officers were elected: 

President, Hon. John Dymond, New Orleans; First 
Vice President, John E. Junkin, Sterling, Kansas; Second 
Vice President, H. B. Vamer, Lexington, N. C.; Third 
Vice President, Leslie G. Niblack, Guthrie; Recording Sec- 
retary, J. W. Cockrum, Indiana; Corresponding Secretary, 
WilHam A. Ashbrook, Johnstown, Ohio; Treasurer, Colonel 
J. Irvin Steel, Ashland, Pa. 

Before finishing up the business of the convention the 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Association passed strong resolutions calling upon Congress 
to admit Oklahoma and Indian Territories as one joint 
state into the fold of these great United States of America. 
It was the unanimous opinion of the delegates that the last 
Congress had badly treated our western brethren, and that 
they were entitled to admission in all respects; that they 
have a class people who would make the best of citizens, as 
over two-thirds are American bom. The Association by a 
unanimous vote selected the city of Indianapolis as the 
place of the 1906 convention, the invitation thereto having 
been extended by Governor J. Frank Hanly, Mayor John 
W. Holtzman and Alfred F. Potts, President of the Indian- 
apolis Commercial Club. The convention after passing 
heartfelt resolutions thanking the people of Guthrie and 
every one who had aught to do with the pleasure of their 
visit, rose in a body, sang that grand old anthem, America, 
and stood adjourned. 

The people of Guthrie surely did extend the glad hand 
and joyful smile to the fighters of the pen. They made the 
editors' first night in the city memorable by one of the most 
elegant and enjoyable receptions and dances they had ever 
attended. The dance was given in the city hall, which was 
most elaborately decorated. The gowns of the lady patron- 
esses were most elaborate, and the costumes of the young 
lady debutantees were most beautiful and bewitching. The 
boys were so pleased and captivated by the fair ones, that 
they one and all voted the dance up to the standard of the 
efete East, and a great credit to the "Wild and Woolly 
West." Even the flower bedecked booth was present, with 
the pretty and bewitching maidens serving brilliant red 
punch to the thirsty lads. Afternoon teas and lawn fetes 

9 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

were given especially for the pleasure of the editorial ladies, 
who were loud in their appreciation of the style and gener- 
osity with which they were treated by their Western sisters. 
The Masonic fraternity is very strong, and has much 
wealth among its members in Guthrie. The Scottish Rite 
Masons have one of the finest temples of that order in the 
United States, it having been erected a few years ago at a 
cost of $75,000. The Masons, without regard to creed or 
style, on the evening of June, 8th tendered a reception at 
their temple to the entire National Editorial Association. 
The evening was one long to be remembered, every feature 
being a decided success. The address of welcome was a 
beautiful and masterful effort, and was delivered by the 
Grand Potentate of Oklahoma Territory, Harper S. Cun- 
ningham. The responses were made for the Association 
by President W. W. Screws, of Montgomery, Alabama, 
and Joseph B. McCabe, of Boston. The reception was 
closed with a musicale, which would have done credit to 
musical Boston, in which the ladies of Guthrie sang with 
great culture and expression, selections from the Italian, 
French and German masters. When not engaged in the 
convention the delegates and their ladies were treated to 
one round of pleasure by the Guthrieites, and the day to 
leave brought much regret both to the editors and to the 
citizens at parting. The work of the convention being 
finished, the people of the twin Territories planned a grand 
tour for their editorial guests to show all the beauties, 
resources and possibilities of those lands. 



10 



CHAPTER in. 

OKLAHOMA — THE LAND OF THE FAIR GOD — ITS 
BEAUTIES AND POSSIBILITIES. 

ON Friday night, June 9th, the sleepy editors were 
hustled into their special trains and started on their 
swing around the circle, to see and be seen, feted, wined 
and dined. Enid, Oklahoma, came first on the list of stops, 
and it seemed that every one of its 5,000 people had turned 
out to do the editors homage. Here a big reception was 
held in the opera house, whicii was followed a short time 
after by a banquet in the rooms of the local lodge of Elks, 
who are famed for their eating and social qualities. A 
short time after leaving Guthrie a sad event happened 
which caused a feeling of sorrow and sympathy to touch the 
hearts of all the editors. Mr. G. T. Wright, an aged edi- 
tor from Hinsdale, Illinois, who was accompanied by his 
wife and daughter, was suddenly, while talking with a friend 
on the car "Bolton," stricken with appolexy, and expired in 
a few minutes. The body was taken from the train at Enid, 
and as it was removed the entire editorial party to the num- 
ber of 700 stood outside the train and sang that grand old 
hymn of Cardinal Newman: 

Lead, kindly light! amid th' encirling gloom, 

Lead Thou me on; 
The night is dark, and I am far from home. 

Lead Thou me on; 

11 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene; one step enough for me. 

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou 
Shouldst lead me on; 

I loved to choose and see my path, but now- 
Lead Thou me on; 

I loved the garish day, and spite of fears. 
Pride ruled my will. 

Remember not past years. 

So long Thy pow'r has bless'd me, sure it still 

Will lead me on 
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 

The night is gone; 
And with the mom those angel faces smile, 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. 

That large band of sympathetic mourners, thus feel- 
ingly intoning that beautiful hymn made a grand and truly 
impressive sight, and one long to be remembered. Mr. 
James H. Potts, editor of The Times, Troy, N. Y., who was 
the poet of the party, was a passenger on the car "Bolton," 
in which Mr. Wright died, and being much impressed by 
the unfortunate death, composed the following beautiful 
poem in commemoration of the sad event: 

"THE LEADING LIGHT." 

Did ever brighter sunset glow 

Than on that Oklahoma day? 

Shining on those too stunned to pray. 
Like promise of the rain cloud's bow. 

Passing from out gloom's darkening fold, 
This richly burdened ship of life, 
Whose masts spoke victory over strife. 

Was entering the gate of gold, 

12 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

"Lead, kindly light!" The song of men 

Arose in honest sympathy; 

The beconing sky replied to me, 
"The Sun that led shall lead again." 

The next day the editors passed through the beautiful 
town of Snyder, which still showed the baleful effects of the 
destructive cyclone which had visited that section a few 
months before, sweeping a large portion of the town off the 
face of the earth. The citizens, nothing daunted by the 
windy visitor, were rapidly repairing the damage of the 
storm. The trains reached the thriving and progressive 
town of Lawton, Oklahoma, in time for breakfast. The 
citizens of this town were bound to keep up the reputation 
of hospitality which had been set at a high pace by Guth- 
rie, and the people met the trains with their carriages r.nd 
drove the editors to their homes, served fine breaakfsts and 
entertained them most handsomely. Lawton enjoys the 
distinction of being a "government town." Tt was plotted 
and laid out by the Engineer Corps of the United States 
Army, and in consequence is a model town. The streets 
are broad and straight, with plenty of open spaces and 
parks, and the lots are large and well located. The United 
States wisely used all the money obtained from the sale of 
lots in fine public improvements, giving the town a system 
of streets, water works, sewage system, school houses and 
public buildings second to none in the Territory. And this 
was all done without the citizens contributing one cent in 
taxes for the erection of these works and improvements. 

From Lawton the trains bearing the brains of the Na- 
tion soon passed over into the Indian Territory, where c. 
stop was made about noon at Chickasha, the chief town of 

13 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




OVERHOLSER OPERA HOUSE, OKLAHOMA CITY. 

the Chickasha Indian Nation. Thirteen years ago the 
town site was a blossoming prairie, but to-day it is a bust- 
ling and progressive town of about 12,000 people, with 
fine buildings and numerous successful manufacturing 
plants. On the arrival of the trains the Indians and the 
whites, with a big brass band, which for noise would outdo 
our own Social Band, greeted their guests and marshalled 
them into line up the street to a big pavilion where a boun- 
teous luncheon had been prepared. The viands were so 
good and so inviting, and the editors feasted with such gus- 
to that it looked as if they had just recovered from a Dr. 
Tanner fasting feat. Some merry wag noticing how 
able the editors were with the knife and fork dubbed 
them the National Eating Association. The editors being 

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PRIVATE RESIDENCES, OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA. 

too full of good things for utterance, took no offense with 
the liberty taken with the National Editorial Association. 

Late that same aftemooxi the party reached Oklahoma 
City, Oklahoma Territory, the metropolitan city of the 
Territory. The growth of this city has been so rapid that 
one might well have faith in the ancient fables, and heiieve 
that some genii had breathed on the ''wonderful lamp" and 
wished that a city be, and the wish was realized. For no 
less than 16 years Dgo the city of Oklahoma was an un- 
broken grassy plain, a feeding ground for droves of buffalo 
and herds of antelope pursued by the wily red men. But 
to-day — lo! the change — there now stands die most flourish- 
ing, progressive city of that section, with a population ap- 
proximating 40,000 people, with public buildings of the 

15 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

first class, wide asphalt paved streets, water works, sewers 
gas and electric light, modem schools, 137 wholesale houses 
and 65 large manufacturing plants, electric street railways 
and nine steam railroads bringing the commerce of the 
world to its doors. That city contributed $3,500 to enter- 
tain the editors and the entertaining was done most royally. 
A reception committee of the representative citizens of 
Oklahoma City met the editors at the railroad station and 
escorted them to a beautiful park where a fine complemen- 
tary dinner was served. From the park the party adjourn- 
ed to the opera house where bright, happy and witty speeches 
were made by the mayor and some of the prominent citi- 
zens, and a galaxy of the editorial brain and brawn respon- 
ded in the best style of after-dinner speeches. The follow- 
ing morning the editorial party found themselves back in 
Guthrie in readiness for one of the greatest events of the trip. 



16 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE INDIAN PAGEANT AT THE 101 RANCH. 

THERE is located in Oklahoma Territory, near the town 
of Bliss, what is conceded to be the greatest and largest 
farm in the world. It is called and incorporated the "101 
Ranch," and is owned, controlled and conducted by the 
Miller Brothers — Joseph Miller, President, age 37; Zach T. 
Miller, 25, Treasurer, and George L. Miller, 23, Secretary. 
The ranch was founded in 1871 by George Miller, a native 
of Kentucky, father of the three Miller brothers, the present 
owners. Some pertinent facts about this greatest farm in 
existence may not be amiss. It contains 87,000 acres, or 
540 homesteads, a homestead embracing 160 acres. It is 
larger than some European principalities. It includes in 
its limits parts of three counties, and has three flourishing 
towns — Bliss, White Eagle and Red Rock. A railroad 
runs its entire length and it is watered by two big rivers 
and inumerable creeks. The Miller Brothers own in their 
own right 10,000 acres and the other 77,000 acres are leas- 
ed from the Indians, embracing the Ponca Indian Reserva- 
tion, and nearly all of the Otoe and Missouri Tribes. The 
ranch has its own telephone plant embracing 35 miles of 
wire, and costing $50,000. There are 11,000 trees in the 
apple orchard. The ranch fences cost $10,000. The op- 
erating expenses are $5,000 per month. The crops this 
year will consist of 9,000 acres of wheat, 2,500 acres of 

17 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

corn, 500 acres of oats, 500 acres of alfalfa and 12,000 
acres of melons. The melons are shipped out by the car 
loads, and are the finest grown in the west, the seed alone 
is worth $2.50 an ounce. The melon patch has a sign 
which would tickle the average darkey almost to death. It 
is, "$5 for any one who goes through this patch without 
taking a melon." That sign goes, and any one crossing 
the patch may eat and carry home all the melons he pleases. 
This ranch has the largest buffalo herd in the world. Ten 
thousand tons of hay are cut yearly. It requires 42 bind- 
ers to harvest the wheat, and five steam threshers to thresh* 
Twenty mowing machines gather the hay. Five steam 
gang plows furrow the land, and 600 mules and 350 cow 
ponies are used as beasts of burden. Five hundred men 
are employed, and 15,000 head of cattle roam its fertile 
pastures. The ranch is incorporated at $300,000, but no 
dividends are declared, the profits being put back in the 
improvement of the ranch. 

The Miller ranch house is the most perfectly appointed 
in the world, from the kitchen to the billiard room in the 
attic, and many of the most distinguished men in the coun- 
try have enjoyed its hospitality. Any visitor who comes 
to the ranch, whether invited or uninvited, is most heartily 
welcomed, and treated with the most generous hospitality. 
It is a practical lesson in big things to see that great ranch 
and view its systematic workings, down even to the small- 
est details. 

The Miller Brothers learning that the National Edi- 
torial Association was coming to Guthrie in June to hold 
its annual convention, determined to do their share in en- 
tertaining the visitors, and show them such sights impossi- 

18 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

ble for them to see in the staid and sober east, and exhibit 
to them in all its pristine glory western life on the plains on 
a big ranch — the Indian, cow boy and cow girl on their 
native heath. 

The Miller Brothers called their ranch 101 from the 
fact that the branding iron used by their father, George 
Miller, for years to mark his horses and cattle, was made up 
of the figures 101. Having determined some months be- 
fore to entertain the editors, the Miller Brothers made the 
most elaborate preparations for such an exhibition as their 
eastern visitors never saw and will not likely see again. 
Much time, labor and some $12,000 were spent in arrang- 
ing the greatest wild west show ever planned. 

June 11th dawned bright and clear, and the editors 
and their friends numbering about 2,000 persons were soon 
taken on their special trains to Bliss, the Miller 10 1 Ranch 
station, where they found everything in readiness for their 
reception, and they were conducted to a great tent out on 
the prairie, where a real buffalo had been barbecued, and 
here each one was served with a light lunch and buffalo 
sandwiches. After the luncheon the editors were escorted 
to the specially prepared arena, out on the wide prairie, 
where they found an amphitheatre of such great and magnif- 
icent proportions as never had been seen by Greeks or Ro- 
mans, or by the great Americans before. There, out on 
Nature's own tilting field, stretched an arena one and one- 
fourth miles around, eight seats deep filled with humanity, 
and in front of those seats were thousands of other people 
standing, who had come to see the great show, such as 
neither the great Barnum, nor the famous Buffalo Bill ever 
dreamed of. 

19 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

About 40 special trains, horses and carriages, "prairie 
schooners" and all kinds of conveyances, from early morn- 
ing, had been pouring their loads of humanity out on the 
prairie, until the time of opening the display, it was vari- 
ously estimated there were from 75,000 to 100,000 on the 
grounds, gathered to see the passing pageant of the "Wild 
and Woolly West." Yet the order of this great crowd was 
simply marvelous. Although there were two companies of 
United States Infantry on hand to keep order, it was not 
found necessary to maJce a single arrest for a breach of the 
peace. The managers of our county fairs might well take 
lessons from the management of that show. No liquor is 
sold anywhere in the Territories. There was not a single 
gambling device on the grounds; not a single drop of liquor 
was sold, nor was there single drunken man in all that vast 
assemblage. Their conduct was most exemplary, and not 
a single thing was done to offend the sensibilities of the 
most fastidious person. There were gathered there the 
ladies, doctors, lawyers, laymen, editors, priests, soldiers, 
ranchmen, scouts, cowboys, farm hands, Indians, Mexicans 
and all classes and conditions of humanity, yet all were jolly 
and peaceful and on pleasure bent. 

The show was participated in by soldiers, scouts, 
rough riders, cowboys and Indians. Almost 300 cowboys 
and 500 Indians took an active part in the pageant, which 
might well be called the passing of the scout and the disso- 
lution of the tribal relations of the Indians, for by recent 
Act of Congress the Indians of Oklahoma this year will be 
allotted individual holdings of lands, instead of holding 
lands by tribes, as heretofore. 

The pageant opened at 1 o'clock with the grand pa- 

20 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

ade illustrative of the progress of civilization. At the head 
of the cavalcade rode the three Miller Brothers, seated on 
milk white Arabian horses, then followed the Indian chiefs, 
braves and squaws gaily bedecked in bright blankets, beads, 
war paint and feathers. At their front came that Apache 
chief. Old Geronimo, the most desperate and bloodthirsty- 
Indian living to-day. The old Apache is a United States 
prisoner of war at Fort Sill, Indian Territory. By permis- 
sion of the Secretary of War he was allowed to attend the 
celebration under a strong military guard. His appear- 
ance v/as greeted by cheers by many, and by jeers and 
hoots from a few, yet the old viliian rode his horse erect, 
undisturbed and apparently unconscious of the com.motion 
he was creating. As he came along the ladies were no- 
ticed to creep a little closer to the protecting arms of their 
escorts. Then came the ancient prairie-schooners, each- 
drawn by eight oxen; then the modem farm machinery and 
a steam engine drawing 16 plows; then followed the auto- 
mobiles, while 12 bands were scattered through the parade 
playing martial music. An emigrant train, such as crossed 
the plains in advance of the days of railroads, drew up the 
rear. In the procession also, on their gallant steeds, rode 
four of the Mullhall family — father, mother, son and daugh- 
ter — said to be four of the most daring and accomplished 
riders in the world. 

Following the parade came the buffalo hunt, with wild 
and fierce animals chased by the Indians, with all their sav- 
age and wild recklessness of the forest. After which the 
Indians gave such an exhibition of games and war dances 
as never before were witnessed by pale-faces — who lived to 
tell the tale. The Mullhalls gave exhibitions of their truly 

21 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

wonderful skill in all kinds of fancy horse-back riding. The 
cowboys being on their mettle, showed their dexterity in 
subdueing the wild, bucking bronco, and their ability in 
throwing the lasso, every time bringing the steer to the 
ground. The negro Sampson "Pickett" showed his prow- 
ess over a great steer by throwing him in a wrestling 
match. "Pickett" also showed his strong jaws by suddenly 
catching a big steer by the nose with his teeth and by a 
great effort throwing it prostrate to the ground. After this 
there were sham battles between the Indians, scouts and 
cowboys, which put to shame any of the Buffalo Bill efforts 
ever attempted in that line. One of the most realistic 
events of the day was the attacking of the emigrant train 
by the Indians and their subsequent burning of the wagons. 
It all looked so devilish, real and wicked that many of the 
spectators had trouble to convince themselves that it was 
only a show. The people rose — the show, the greatest of 
them all, was over — and such as shall never be seen again 
under the same circumstances. Every one left the prairie 
thanking the Miller Brothers, and praising them for the 
magnitude of their exhibition, and the orderly and decent 
manner in which everything was conducted. At the con- 
clusion of the 101 Ranch celebration the special trains re- 
turned to Guthrie to permit the editors to make preparations 
for continuing their tour, and the trains left that city about 
midnight the same night. 



22 



CHAPTER V. 



THE INDIAN TERRITORY — WHERE THE NOBLE REDMEN 
ROYALLY ENTERTAIN THE PALE-FACE. 

THE first stop, of any length, after leaving Guthrie was 
made at Cleveland, Oklahoma. Here is one of the 
largest and best oil producing districts in the West, and the 
high oil derricks were seen on all sides, marring the beauty 



of the country, 
met at the sta 
band, a commit 
escorted to the 
a fine complimen 
was served. La 
of the place were 
special delight of 
did not "know," 
"shot." Oil was 
July 2d, 1903, 
are over 200 oil 
and gas wells, 
000,000 feet of 
town looks much 




SHOOTING THE OIL 
WELL. 



The editors were 
tion by a brass 
tee of citizens and 
best hotel, where 
tary breakfast 
ter all the sights 
seen, and for the 
the editors, who 
an oil well was 
first found there 
and to-day there 
producing wells 
which flow iCO,- 
gas daily. The 
like a Pennsyl- 



vania oil town, and now has a population of about 4,000, 
and as yet the Standard Oil Company octopus has not suc- 
ceeded in getting a foothold in the field. 

From Cleveland the travelers hastened to Tulsa, In-- 

23 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

dian Territory, where the whites and Indians were waiting 
to entertain them. The Tulsaites having heard of the 
capacities of the editors, wisely had their feast prepared and 
the tables spread before the editors arrived, so no time was 
lost on the arrival of the trains in using their carriages to 
convey their guests to a fine new hotel, where an excellent 
banquet was served, and a fine orchestra played sweet 
music while they ate. After the luncheon the carriages 
were re-entered and all the sights of that hustling and 
booming city were seen and admired. 

From Tulsa the editors rode into Muskogee, the lar- 
gest town in the Indian Territory. This 13-year-old city 
of the red-skins was a wonderful example of whirlwind-like 
growth. Here, where a few years ago was not a single 
wigwam, to-day dwell over 15,000 hustling and progressive 
citizens. They have wide paved streets, fine water works, 
electric light plants, trolley lines and fine public buildings. 
The private homes of the people run anywhere from $1,000 
to $60,000 in value, while a $250,000 fire proof hotel, 
with all the modern conveniences — with a bath for each 
room, and almost equals in accommodations the famous 
Walton and also the Bellevue-Stratford, of Philadelphia, in 
its appointments — is there to cater to the most exacting 
traveler. And the strange part of the matter is that not a 
single drop of liquor is sold in this large hotel; yet every- 
thing is of the best, and the proprietor is making money. 
Who after this will say that a hotel cannot be run without 
a license to sell liquor? 

The land in both the Indian and Oklahoma Territories 
is so fertile that it will actually raise anything that is planted. 
The subsoil is a yellow, sandy loam extending down 21 

24 



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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

feet to water, and there is a top dressing of five or six feet 
of dark red loam, which simply beats the world when it 
comes to producing good results from the seed entrusted to 
it. It is astonishing what abundant crops of wheat, com, 
cotton, oats, potatoes and alfalfa ( hay ) those prairie fields 
will raise. It is not an unusual thing for the farmers there 
to raise from 125 to 200 bushels of potatoes to the acre, 
and to annually clear from $40 to $50 per acre on alfalfa, 
while the cotton yield runs from a bale ( 550 pounds) to a 
to a bale and a half per acre. Apples, peaches, pears and 
grapes are successfully and profitably cultivated, and all 
crops of the temperate zone thrive there. 

If it were not for the occasional drouths and cyclones 
and "twisters" which make life occasionally miserable, there 
would be no better place in the world for the farmer than 
out in those two Territories. The wise man there in pro- 
viding for safety against the cyclone, has dug himself an 
underground cellar, and at the first sign of danger he and 
his family flee to the "hole in the ground." 

In the matter of population, wealth and development, 
both of these Territories are well equipped and ready for 
statehood, and they will get in. As. Hon. R. L. Lunsford 
said: "We hold the winning hand, and will butt into the 
Union." Four kings — corn, coal, cotton and cattle, and 
also the ace, oil. We wish them God speed, and sincerely 
hope that the next session of Congress will do these broth- 
ers justice, and make them the 46th State — "Oklahoma." 

The editors departed from these Territories feeling 
deeply grateful for the royal entertainment they had been 
given in all the towns in which they had stopped, and fully 
appreciating the generous hospitality that had been accord- 

25 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

ed fnem — such as the National Editorial Association had 
never received before. Long will the people of Oklahoma 
and the Indian Territories have a green spot in the editorial 
heart. 




THE FLOURING MILLS, OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA. 



26 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE LONE-STAR STATE — TEXAS A MIGHTY EMPIRE. 

SHORTLY before leaving Guthrie on their return tour 
the Texas delegation had pinned on each manly editor- 
ial breast a bright badge with the following motto: 

All aboard for Texas. 1500 miles in Texas. 
Every minute you spend in Texas you will be the 
guests of the Texas delegation. 

1500 miles through Texas — that expression, which 
meant a trip longer than from New York to Chicago and 
half way back again, gave most of the editors their first 
impression of the greatness and immensity of that empire 
State of Texas. But few people outside of the confines of 
the Lone Star State have but the slightest conception of its 
size and extent. A brief outline of the facts will help the 
reader to realize in part what a vast empire it is. As it 
has been well said: 

Texas is the great keystone that supports the cen- 
tral arch of the United States. 

For 400 miles it borders the Gulf of Mexico, and for 
800 miles rests against the Rio Grande River. Extending 
from the 26th to the 36th parallel of latitude and from the 
94th to the 107th meridian of longitude, it embraces an 
area of 265,280 square miles. Bare figures convey but a 
meagre idea of distance or space. It is only by compari- 

27 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

son that we get an idea of the relative importance of things, 
Texas is an empire in itself. Compared with European 
territory Texas is twice the size of England, Ireland, 
Scotland and Wales; a fourth larger than Germany, and 
equal in area to France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland 
and Denmark. Compared with other States in the Union, 
it is larger than Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi 
and Louisiana combined. Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, 
Wisconsin and Iowa could be dropped within her territory 
and still leave enough unoccupied space to make several 
states of the New England type. It is larger than the 
whole of New England with New York, New Jersey, Mary- 
land, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio added. 
Across the State from Texarkana to El Paso is further than 
from Chicago to New York, and from Texline to Browns- 
ville is as far as from Chicago to New Orleans. When 
Texas is as densely populated as New England it will 
support a population of 73,142,000. The entire population 
of the United States could be put down in Texas and yet 
there would be no crowding and plenty of elbow room. 

Texas is well adapted for an agricultural State. Its 
soil is both rich and varied, indeed. Land can be bought 
from $1 per acre up to most any price; according to state 
of cultivation. It will grow in abundance wheat, com, oats, 
cotton, rice, sugar cane, potatoes and juicy melons. All 
kinds of fruit will grow there from apples to figs, and large 
orchards of oranges and lemons are now being successfully 
cultivated. As a cotton producing State Texas ranks first, 
producing one-third of the entire crop of the world. The 
annual crop and its by products run in value from $155,- 
000,000 to $175,000,000. 

28 






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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

The State has rich deposits of iron ore, coal, marble 
and granite. The greatest and most phenomenal oil fields 
in the world are located in south eastern Texas, near Beau- 
mont. In live stock — cows, steers, sheep, goats, horses 
and hogs the ranches of Texas stand in front rank as to 
quality and production. There are some of the largest 
meat packing houses in the world located in Texas; among 
which are represented the Armours, Swifts, Cudays and 
others. Texas has a large timber area on which grow oak, 
gum, beach, ash, elm, pine, magnolia and other less well 
known woods. Texas has one of the best and absolutely 
the wealthiest school system in the world. The State has 
set apart to the common school fund, all told, about 38,- 
000,000 acres of land. Of this there are 22,000,000 acres 
remaining. The value of the land, in connection with the 
accumulated fund, amount to • $40,000,000, The State 
has also a very rich and flourishing State University, locat- 
ed at Austin. Separate schools are maintained all over 
the State for the white and the colored children. 

It is stated that the State of Texas, to-day, offers bet- 
ter opportunities for investment of capital and labor in the 
ordinary lines of enterprise, either agricultural, industrial or 
commercial than any other portion of North America. And 
then Texas is run on the principle of taking care of the 
people, they having most stringent anti-trust laws, as the 
Standard Oil Company and kindred monopolies have learn- 
ed to their sorrow and cost. 

The great State of Texas is overwhelmingly Demo- 
cratic, and although the old sa.w that "Corn makes whiskey 
and whiskey makes Democrats," is still heard in the land, 
yet the signs of the times are that Texas will soon be a 

29 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

prohibition State, so far as the indiscriminate sale of Mquor 
is concerned. Many a northerner could take needed les- 
sons in many particulars from Texas. 




TERMINAL BUILDING, DALLAS, 
TEXAS. 



30 



CHAPTER VII. 

DALLAS, HOUSTON, GALVESTON — THE COMMERCIAL 
CENTERS. 

N consequence of the big "blow" they had heard from 
their Texan brethren the editors were anxious to see the 
plains of Texas and taste of Texan hospitality. The edi- 
torial special left Muskogee about midnight and reached 
Dallas at noon the next day (June 13. ) The run down to 
Dallas was made through a rich farming section, but some 
of the northern editors were disappointed because those 
those did not have the fine and substantial farm houses of 
the Pennsylvania farmer. They had not become accustom.- 
ed to the habit of that country of one-story farm houses, with 
small bams, for all grain is threshed in the fields as har- 
vested. When the editors looked on the rich fields and 
heavy crops they realized that they were in truth in the 
"garden spot of Texas." 

The Texans are pushers, and as soon as the train 
arrived in Dallas the pencil pushers were met by the re- 
ception committee and taken to the waiting special trolley 
cars. The editors were given a trolley ride over the entire 
city, and the fine city hall, magnificent court house, St. 
Paul's Sanitarium, Dallas Public Library, Commercial Club 
building, fine hotels and business blocks and private resi- 
dences were in turn pointed out, described, and viewed. 

After the sight-seeing car ride was finished the visitors 

31 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



were taken to the large and finely appointed State fair 
grounds, just outside the city limits. Here a dainty and 
bountiful luncheon was served the hungry and weary tour- 
ists, who discussed 
all the good things 
with the utmost rel- 
ish. From the ban- 
queting pavilion the 
party adjourned to 
the large auditorium 
where the speech- 
making feature of 
the program was 
pleasantly exempli- 
fied. The address 
of welc o m e was 
made by Mayor 
Barry, followed by 
Editor W. G. Ster- 
ritt, who in a witty 
and enter t a i n i n g 
speech told his nor- 
thern brethren how 
glad he was to have 
them come and see 
their city and then 
to go home again 
THE IMPERIAL HOTEL DALLAS, and sing its praises. 
TEXAS. On behalf of the 

visitors Addison B. Burk, Esq., of Philadelphia, made an 
eloquent response. In the evening the local lodge of B. P. 

32 




f?^ 'ii' .fyy*;f ?f?* 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



O. Elks held a reception for our party in their handsome 
rooms. The Elk building covers an entire square and is 
said to be one of the finest temples of that order in the 
United States. 

Dallas is one of the wealthiest and most important 
manufacturing commercial cities in the southwest. It has 
at present a population of about 82,000, and its energetic 

citizens have 
formed a club 
whose sole pur- 
pose is to boom 
the city and en- 
deavor to swell 
the population 
to 150,000 be- 
fore ninet e e n - 
ten. They say 
they will do it 
sure. The city 
has fine trans- 
portation facili- 
ties, having 8 
different railway 

, lines, with 84 

THE ELKS' CLUB, DALLAS, TEXAS. . ' 

trams amvmg 

and departing daily. It has 62 newspapers and periodicals, 

of which The News is the leading morning paper and The 

Times-Hearld the most influential evening paper. 

Late that night the editorial trains left for Houston, 

where they arrived in time for breakfast next morning. 

After breakfast the party was taken in charge by a com- 

33 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



mittee of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, and in special 
trolley cars guided the visitors through all the interesting 
parts of that thriving commercial city of 75,000 people. 
The activity and bustle of the city impressed the editors 




THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK, HUSTON, TEXAS. 

very favorably and told louder than words of the immense 
volume of business done in that city. Mere cotton is 
handled in Houston tlian any other city in the South, and 

34 



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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the cotton compresses were seen by the editors and they 
viewed with interest all the various processes at the cotton 




THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HOUSTON, TEXAS, 
seed mills — where from the fuzzy cotton seed was taken 

35 



• RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

cotton batting, cotton seed oil extracted and refined, so that 
it looked like the finest olive oil, and said to be often sold 
as such in the North, and the residue of the seeds was 
pressed into cakes for cattle feed and sold at $12 a ton. 

After the trolley rides the party was taken to a mag- 
nolia grove, outside of the city limits and served with an 
elaborate banquet, at which the freedom of the city was 
extended to the pen fighters by Judge McKittridge, of the 
County Court, in a witty speech. Among other things the 
Judge said was that Texas never had a defaulting State 
officer, and that their State was free from boss rule. The 
Judge seeing so many ladies in the crowd, made himself 
solid with them by explaining that they had a law in force 
in Texas which gave the wives half of their husband's 
property absolutely, with power to dispose of the same by 
will. This made some of the women want to move to 
Texas at once. 

The reply on behalf of the editors was made by Addi- 
son B. Burk, Esq., of Philadelphia, who said that he might 
as well admit that he came from the State of Pennsylvania, 
which was completely in the hands of the bosses, and he 
was glad to congratulate the Texans on their freedom and 
generous hospitality. A large number of the scribes took 
advantage of the stop in Houston to run over to Galveston, 
which was only 50 miles away. 

The editors expected to find many signs of the great 
flood in Galveston, but they were agreeably disappointed. 
They found that the beautiful city had risen rejuvena- 
ted from the waves. Everywhere were seen signs of re- 
newed activity and progress, and on the beach was observ- 
ed the towering sea wall, with its mighty granite front, 

36 




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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

erected by the United States Government at an expendi- 
ture of $50,000,000, to keep the majestic waves from again 



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devastating the city. The new Galveston has risen Hke 
a sprite from the waves, and will be more substantial, great- 

37 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

er and more powerful than of old; and will be a shining 
beauty spot of the gulf coast, and a sea port of which the 
whole country will be proud. Galveston is more prosper- 
ous than she was before the gigantic tidal wave on Septem- 
ber 8th, 1900, swept out of existence thousands of her 
people and destroyed million of dollars worth of her prop- 
erty. The city, with its deep harbor, extensive wharves, 
great commerce and lines of shipping sailing to all parts of 
the world, is destined to soon become; and remain, the 
greatest seaport of the Southwest. Galveston has become 
a great pleasure resort in both winter and summer. Her 
bathing beach is the finest in the South, and the waters of 
the Galveston Bay abound with tarpon, pompano, mackerel 
and allkinds of sea food fish. The angler can have more 
sport and make larger catches of fish than the immortal Sir 
Isaac Walton ever saw in his wildest dreams. Galveston 
has some of the largest fisheries in the world. Large fleets 
of fishing beats are maintained, which are sent far out into 
the gulf for food fish, and come in heavil}^ laden with deli- 
cious fish, which are shipped North by the car loads. 
While we were there a fleet of four boats came in having on 
board a total of over one hundred tons of "red snapper," a 
delicate and toothsome fish found in great numbers in the 
Gulf of Mexico. It was intimated to us that many of the 
red snappers, whose flesh is a beautiful pink, are packed in 
cans and sold and eaten in the North for high grade salmon. 
It is a fine table fish, whether it be sold under its own nam.e 
or by another name. 

Galveston is the greatest cotton exporting port in the 
South, and in one of the mammoth cotton ware houses there 
we were shown $5,000,000 worth of cotton awaiting ship- 

38 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

merit to England to be manufactured into cotton goods and 
returned to our country to be fashioned iiito fleecy gowrs 



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H 

03 




for our gay '*sun-n:er girls." 

The cotton comes to the warehouse in loose, immense 

39 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

bales weighing 550 pounds, and then it is placed in the 
compress and squeezed down to one-third the size, thus a 
ship can carry a three times greater cargo of cotton than it 
could if the cotton had not had that bear-like hug. 

The great sea wall, a mighty feat of engineering, is 
over four miles long, sixteen feet wide at the base, five feet 
wide at the top and seventeen feet high above low tide. 
The foundation of the wall rests upon four rows of round 
piling twelve inches in diameter and driven four feet apart 
into the ground forty-four feet down into the solid clay. 
The outside of the wall, next the sea, is fortified, or rein- 
forced by immense blocks of granite weighing a ton and 
more apiece. The beach outside of this wall was crowded 
with gay bathers when we were there, and some of our gay 
boys invested a quarter in an abreviated bathing suit, and 
sported in the waves for a while, making goo-goo-eyes at 
the Galveston "buds." 

The wide streets, green lawns, beautiful flowers and 
handsome homes of Galveston excited the admiration of us 
all. Galveston is called "The Oleander City," for all its 
residence streets are lined with beautiful oleander trees from 
ten to twenty feet high, covered with bright and fragrant 
blooms. 

The city of Galveston is situated on an island at the 
western edge of the Gulf of Mexico, and has the advantages 
of a main-land town as well as those of a sea coast resort. 
Like many another Texas town Galveston owes its discov- 
ery and foundation to the proud Castillian. In the year 
1782 a Spanish fleet exploring the Gulf of Mexico discov- 
ed this island and named the Galveston Bay and the island 
in honor of Ell Exmo Senor Conde De Galvez, who was 

40 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

then the Spanish Governor of the Province of Louisiana. It 
is a matter of history that in 1810, and for a number of 
years thereafter, the notorious pirate Lafitte and his desper- 
ate band of buccaneers made their headquarters there while 
they ravaged the shipping plying in those waters. Some 
years later the island fell under the control and rule of the 
Empire of Mexico. The following bit of poetry tells of 
Galveston's attractions: 

"Gem of Mexico's Gulf — northern shores, 

A city after noble Galvez named; 
Lovely scenes greet the eye, at its door; 

Varied from bright, to lesser retain'd — 
Evenings are enchantment of the mind — 

Sunset o'er the sea, bright as maiden's cheek; 
Transfuse life and joy of purest kind. 

Only to give rest, where heart pleasure seeks 
No check — the health-giving Beach to find." 

The social life of the city is very attractive and most 
of the exclusive affairs are given under the patronage of 
the Company of Honorable Ancient Artillery, which is a 
hundred years or so old. The public buildings, the court 
house, custom house, Cotton Exchange, Sealey Hospital, 
St. Mary's Hospital, Rosenburg Library, Medical College, 
Scottish Rite Cathedral and churches are all fine and stately 
buildings and the business blocks are fine examples of their 
kind. 

The city affords fine openings in all lines of business, 
which will be rapidly absorbed. The United States Gov- 
ernment, with engineer officers in charge, is engaged in 
work on the harbor and fortifications, which will make Gal- 
veston one of the best and most completely guarded har- 
bors in the world, and no foreign fleet would be able to safely 

41 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

enter that stronghold. The city has three beautiful parks — 
Sherman Park, Central Park and West End Park. A 




< 

w 

H 

O 

H 
m 
W 
> 

< 
O 

O 

> 

W 
h^ 
W 



o 

H 
O 



magnificent driveway has been planned and is now in course 
of construction inside the sea wall and encircling the city. 

42 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

The level of the city is being raised from five to ten feet 
in places by sand pumped from the Bay and distributed 
by dydraulic system, which is perfect and wonderful. 

Having viewed all the wonderful sights of Galveston 
our party returned to Houston. 



f 



\ -, 



^- 










) 



CONCEPCION MISSION, SAN 
ANTONIO, TEXAS. 



43 



CHAPTER VIII. 

SAN ANTONIO — THE VENICE OF AMERICA — THE ALAMO — 

THE MISSIONS. 

HAVING arrived at Houston, our party visited a num- 
ber of places of interest, sought out their friends, were 
wined and dined, and turned their thoughts to the forward 




THE ALAMO, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 

journey. When the shades of night had again fallen the 
weary editors retired to their cars and were soon rolling across 
the plains to the historic city of San Antonio, which was 
reached early on the morning of June 15th. 

44 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



The day was bright and pleasant, and the temperature 
very comfortable, just such a day as was best suited for the 
tourists to see at its best 
that quaint city. San 
Antonio is most pictur- 
esque, and has been call- 
ed the Venice of Amer- 
ica. The city was set- 
tled by the Spaniards in 
the year 1689, and the 
romantic San Antonio 
river rising in the green 
hills several miles north 
of the city, flows, with 
its deep, dark green wat- 
ers, through the city in 
a tortuous and serpen- 
tine course, and is cross- 
ed by many artistic 
bridges. The city has 
many ancient and his- 
toric buildings, which 
were erected by the 
Spaniards several hun- 
dred years ago. The 
many notable buildings 
and quaint customs of 
long ago mingle with 
the beautiful and roman- 
tic aspects of the past. FOUR STREET SCENES, SAN 
The old Spanish adobe ANTONIO, TEXAS. 

45 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

house, with its galleries and large court yard, stands up 
neighbor to a modem business house, a mild protest against 
the encroachment of the busy activity of the present day for 
sordid gain. One can pause by such a relic of the past and 
imagine he can see the youthful and beautiful Spanish 
senorita, with her black lace mantilla wrapped around her 
head, looking from the barred window, on her lover singing 
in the street below. The impress of the Spanish and 
Mexican domination of the town is seen on all sides, from 
Alamo Plaza to the uttermost outskirts of the city. 




i^^ 



THE COUNTY COURT HOUSE — SAN FERNANDO CA- 
THEDRAL — MAIN PLAZA, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS. 

In the old days of the power and influence of the Span- 
ish friar there stretched no less than 21 large, strong and 
beautiful missions and monasteries from the Canadian fron- 
tier to the Mexican border. There are five of these noble 
examples of the architect's beautiful fancy, and monk's la- 
bor and skill in the vicinity of San Antonio. They are the 
Mission San Juan de Capistran, erected in 1716. The 

46 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Alamo Mission, built in 1718. The Mission San Jose, 
built in 1718. The Mission San Francisco de Espada, 
established in 1730. The Mission Concepcion de Acuna, 
built in 1731. Of these missions that of the Alamo now 
stands in the centre of the city of San Antonio, on the his- 
toritic Alamo Plaza. The others are located from four to 
six miles outside the city limits. All of these missions 
were originally connected with each other by large under- 
ground passages, to afford a means of safety and escape. 
Originally these missions were connected with large dormi- 




THE FOUR FAMOUS SPANISH MISSIONS, SAN 
ANTONIO, TEXAS. 

tories, or cloisters, and the whole surrounded by a large 
wall, some 20 feet high, built of adobe, or sun-dried bricks, 
for the protection of the monks and their parishoners, who 
in times of attacks by the blood-thirsty Indians fled to the 
missions for safety. The monks lived chiefly by cultivat- 
ing the fields surrounding the missions and by bartering 

47 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




CONFEDERATE MONUMENT, 



Occasionally religious 
services are still held in 
the San Jose Mission — 
on feast days. The 
ruins of the mission 
still show wonderfully 
beautiful carvings and 
decorations, display- 
ing master pieces of 
skillful artists. Of 



with the friendly Indi- 
ans. These missions 
have long since been 
abandoned by the 
monks as places of res- 
idence, and, with the ex- 
ception of the Alamo 
and San Jose Missions, 
are falling into ruins. 








THE ALAMO SIXTY YEARS AGO. 



them all the Alamo 
stands forth with most 
historic interest to the 
American. It was 
therein in February 
of 1836 that America 
had its "Thermopylae," 
but unlike that historic 
THE ALAMO DECORATED FOR SAN battle field the Alamo 
JACINTO ANNIVERSARY. had no "messenger of 

48 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




defeat," for here none escaped. It was here for 1 1 days, in 
that February of 1836, that handful of brave and vaHant 

Americans under Travis, 
Bowie, Crockett and oth- 
ers, kept General Santa 
Anna and his 7,000 
Mexicans at bay until 
their ammunition became 
exhausted and the entire 
garrison was massacred, 
and their bodies burned. 
A month later General 
Sam Houston, with his 
Texans, defeated and 
captured Santa Anna 
The Alamo is now used as a historical 
museum. Plenty of places of interest are to be found in 
San Antonio for the 
tourist and the anti- 
quarian. The promi- 
nent public buildings 
are the Federal build- 
ing, city hall, court 
house, market house, 
Carnegie Library and 
the new Sunset depot 
of the Southern Pacific 
Railroad. The city 
has within its limits 22 



THE FIGHT IN 
and his Mexicans. 



THE ALAMO. 




SOLEDAD STREET SIXTY YEARS AGO 
SAN ANTONIO. 



beautiful parks and plazas adorned with magnificent tropi- 
cal plants and giant palms. South of the city are the fam- 

49 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



ous Hot Wells Springs, which 
have wonderful health giving 
properties. The city is furn- 
ished, with the purest water 
from 21 artesian wells, which 
pour forth daily 41,000,000 
gallons of sparkling water. 
The streets are the finest kind, 
laid in mesquite blocks, as- 
phalt, vitrified brick and ma- 
cadam. There are alone 67 
miles of good madamized 
roads. There are also 55 
miles of electric trolley roads 
in and surrounding the city. 
One of the most interesting 
sights to the civilian is the 




'T-ZA- 







THE DOOR OF SAN JOSE 
MISSION. 



A WINDOW OF SAN JOSE MIS- 
SION, SAN ANTONIO, 

United States Government post, 
Fort Sam Houston, on the edge of 
the city. The 
of^cers and 
soldiers sta- 
tioned there 
s o meti mes 
range in num- 

^^ bers from 30,- 

-"^000 to 50,000 MEXICAN BASKET 
men, and con- VENDERS, 

tribute largely to the gaiety of the 
social life of the city. Life in the 
Mexican quarter of the city was 




50 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

especially interesting to those of the party who had never 
seen the swarthy faces of the "Greasers" or heard their soft 
and poetica l language. The Mexican girls from 15 to 20 

are beautiful as pictures, but from 
20 to 40 they become exceeding- 
ly homely, and sometimes repul- 
sive from drinking mescal and 
smoking cigarettes. 

The committee of the Chamber 
of Commerce of San Antonia, who 
had the editors in charge, per- 
formed their task in a most agree- 
able manner, and all was done for 
^ the comfort of 

i^^:;;^. the inner and 




■-^iii» 'the outer man 

that Southern 
h o spitality 
could devise and offer. The 
sights of the city were seen in the 
mosty thorough manner, and were 
greatly appreciated. Each of the 
editors said good-bye to San An- 
tonio with keen regret, and with a 
strong desire to visit its confines 
soon again. A large number of 
editors left the party here and re- 
turned home. 

By courtesy of the Southern 
Pacific Railway, through its genial and efficient officers — 
Passenger Traffic Manager Charles S. Fee and General 

51 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Passenger Agent T. H. Goodman — arrangements were 
made to run the editorial special train over that road the 
entire way to San Francisco, making stops along the route 
to suit the convenience and pleasure of the editors. The 
i^' courtesy was greatly 

; appreciated by the pen- 

cil pushers, who have 
none but kindliest words 
of praise for these ofifi- 
cials and their road. 
The Southern Pacific 
certainly is one of the 
: finest railroads in the 

country, and ranks with 
the very best of them. 
That road is familiarly 
known the "Sunset 
Route" and its "Sunset 
Limited" from New 
Orleans to San Francis- 
co is one of the best and 
most palatial trains on 
earth, fitted, as it is, 
with all the modem con- 
veniences of travel, with 
dining cars serving 
SAN JOSE MISSION, SAN ANTONIO, ^gals en route equal to 

those of the swellest hotels in the land. This road is call- 
ed the "Open Window Route," because its locomotives 
bum oil for fuel and there is no smoke, no cinders and no 
dust, and the large and commodious observation cars add 

52 





RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

to the comfort of the traveler, giving ample opportunity of 
seeing all the beauties of the scenery along the route. The 
observation car is equipped with a large library of the best 
books of science, history and fiction, for the free use of the 
passengers, and a fully equipped buffet. 




SAN JUAN MISSION, SAN ANTONIO. 



53 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE RIO GRANDE — THE PLAINS OF WESTERN TEXAS — THE 
PECOS RIVER BRIDGE — EL PASO — JUAREZ, MEXICO. 

THE evening of June 15th saw all the moulders of pub- 
lic opinion at the beautiful "Sunset" depot ready to 
board their special train, leave San Antonio and start in 



chase of the set 
"Sunset" depot 
structure, built in 
and coloring of 
mission style of 
is one of the 
the city, surroun 
beautiful droop 
artistic hedges of 




THE MEXICAN GOING 
TO MARKET. 



ting sun. The 
is a beautiful 
true harmony 
the old Spanish 
architecture, and 
beauty spots of 
ded, as it is, in 
ing palms and an 
California cyp- 



ress. The special train was soon speeding through the 
night on its westward course, and the editors awoke early 
the next morning to find the train rushing along the great 
Rio Grande River, swollen by recent rains into a mighty 
^ 1,^ torrent. The river, in many places, 

JW !! K j^^ ^P rushed along between high and pre- 

fi^ ■ ^^^a m^}wk cipitous banks formed by rocky 

cliffs, and on one side of the river 
was the free and enlightened United 
States of America, while on the op- 
posite side, only a rifie shot away 

54 




TYPES OF MEXICANS 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




was the effete empire of Mexico, the so-called republic, silent 
as the grave. A few hours later the train was running 

swiftly over our vast 
rolling plains, covered 
only with withered sage 
^- brush and many varie- 
ties of cacti, seemingly 
practically worthless as 
farming or grazing 
land, yet sheep thrive 
and grow fat, finding 
much nourishment in 
MEXICAN VILA, SAN ANTONIO. the species of cactus 
growing there called prickly pear. It is said that with ir- 
rigation these same apparently arid and unproductive plains 
will blush and blossom like a rose. At different places 
along the road, miles and miles from any town, were seen 
large numbers of box cars fitted up with bunks and cooking 
and eating arrange- 
ments. We were told 
these were used by the 
track hands who build, 
keep up and repair the 
road bed. These men 
camp out thus for 
months and months at 
a time, during which 
period they never see a 
town. Among the 
workmen are many Chinese, Mexicans and a large number 
of Indians, who are said to make fair workmen — as long as 

C'5 




CHILI CON CARNI TABLES, SAN 
ANTONIO. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




HOME OF THE MEXICAN PEON. 



they feel like it, and as long as they are kept away from 
whiskey, or "fire water," as they call it. Both the Indians 
and Mexicans of the lower orders will make any sacrifice, 
or go to any 
inconvenience 
to secure suf- 
ficient whi s - 
key to make 
them drunk, 
and when 
they reach 
that condition 
they are ex- 
ceedingly dangerous and blood-thirsty wretches. Some 
miles further west we passed Del Rio, and old Mexican 
adobe town, which doubtless was so called because it was 
not on the river (Rio ). Late in the afternoon, after cross- 
ing sandy deserts, we came to Viaduct, Texas, where there is 

one of the largest if not 
the largest, railroad 
bridge in the world 
spanning a deep gorge 
of the Pecos River. 
The bridge is almost 
half a mile long and is 
427 feet above the sur- 
of the river. The train 
halts on the centre of 
that great bridge so that the passengers may get out and 
take a look over its dizzy side into the frightful depths be- 
low. Few can look in the water without a shudder of fear. 

56 




BEAUTIFUL SAN ANTONIO HOME. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




SAN FERNANDO CATHEDRAL, 100 
YEARS AGO, SAN ANTONIO. 



El Paso, at the extreme western border of Texas, was 
the last scheduled stopping place in the Lone Star State, 
and it was reached by the special train Friday evening, 
^__ ■ 1 after a long and tire- 
some journey of well 
nigh 1,000 miles from 
San Antonio. The cit- 
izens of El Paso were 
well prepared for the 
descent upon them of 
the hundreds of editors, 
and the entire popula- 
tion, with committees 
and a big brass band, 
turned out to greet and 
welcome their guests. The address of welcome was made 
by Zack Cobb, a lawyer, and a grandson of Howell Cobb, 
of President James Buchanan's cabinet. His speech was 
full of fire, vehemence and burning eloquence, which made 
the hearts of his hearers tingle as he bade them welcome to 
the best the city affor- 
ded, and also he told 
them of the future 
greatness that was to 
be her's. At the con- 
clusion of the speech 
making the newspaper 
men were taken on HOT SULPHUR WELLS, SAN 
special trolley cars to ANTONIO, 

view all the sights of that queen city of the Rio Grande 
River. This beautiful city stands at an altitude of 3,717 

57 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




FRUIT ORCHARD, EL PASO, TEXAS, 
feet above the level of the sea. It now has a population of 
over 30,000 people, and is rapidly increasing. By reason 
of its locality at the gateway of Old Mexico, and the fact 
that 19 trunk lines reach and pass through the city, it is 
destined to become the commercial metropolis of the South- 
west. It is practically the half-way house between the At- 
lantic and Pacific Oceans, and between Denver and the city 
of Mexico, and has been the Mecca of the health-seeker 
and the resting place of the tourist for a quarter of a cen- 
tury. From El Paso can be reached the Mexican cities of 
Juarez, Chihuahua, the City of Mexico and the numerous 
other cities on the Mexican Central Railway, and the many 
health resorts of Southern New Mexico. The beautiful 

58 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

scenery of the Rio Grande, and the fine views of the 
Raton and Glorieta Mountains to the north, and north- 
easterly the Sacramento and White Mountains, from 12,000 
to 14,000 feet above sea level, add to the attractiveness of 
the place. A mile or more outside the city can be seen 
the clouds of smoke pouring from the largest ore smelters 
in the world, where millions of dollars worth of gold and 
silver are extracted from the stubborn rock and added to 
the permanent wealth of the world. North of the city, 
nestling against the great Franklin Mountain range, is Fort 
Bliss, one of Uncle Sam's most important military reserva- 
tions, where the most daring cavalry riders and scouts are 
trained. Every way one may turn there are objects of 



BALING ALFALFA, NEAR EL PASO, TEXAS. 

59 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




interest and beauty to be seen. After making the inspec- 
tion of El Paso, the editors were taken across the large 
bridge spanning the Rio Grande to Ciudad-Juarez, Mexico, 
and given their first 
close view of a foreign 
land. The Mexicans, 
knowing what had been 
done earlier in the day 
by their "Gringo" 
brethren of El Paso, de- 
termined to show the 
Americans a thing or FLOATING GARDENS, MEXICO, 
two. The Board of Trade, accompanied by the Alacade 
and all the other town dignitaries, turned out with a fine 
band to bid the visitors welcome, and do them honor. To 
the delight of the younger ink-slingers, as well as many of 
the "old boys," the delegation was accompanied by a host 
of the prettiest and most attractive senoritas that Mexico 

can boast of. What 
the charming senoritas 
lacked in language they 
more than made up in 
languishing, captivat- 
ing glances, and many 
of the boys left with 
lacerated hearts at the 
PRIVATE RESIDENCE ON THE hour of parting. In the 
PASEO, MEXICO. reception committee 

were the Quien Sabe Elks, of El Paso, who, clad in their 
new and picturesque Mexican suits, and wearing broad 
sombreros, looked very unique. The public reception was 

60 




w 

H 

o 

o 



n 

> 

a 



H 
W 

> 

H 
W 

Q 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST, 




CHURCH OF ST. GUADALUPE, OVER 300 YEARS OLD, 
JUAREZ, MEXICO. 

held at the Mexican Custom House, where very palatable 
refreshments, and plenty of punch and cognac brandy, were 
served the visitors. The editors were free and easy and 
made most of the pleasures of the occasion, banishing dull 
care and all thoughts of the troubles of the 'morrow. The 
bewitching senoritas, as a souvenir of the occasion, pinned 
to each editorial breast a miniature Mexican straw sombrero 
hat, to which was attached a ribbon bearing the motto: 
"Viva el Cuarto Poder, El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexi- 
co, Junio 16, 1905." The town of Juarez being a very old 
Mexican town, many objects were seen there telling of the 

61 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




ancient Spanish occupation, and on all sides were places of 
interest to the inqusitive American. To many the old 

Spanish mission, with 
its beautiful cathedral, 
dating back over 300 
years, was a place to be 
admired and wondered 
at. The massive walls 
of the cathedral and the 
beauty of its lines show- 
ed that die old dons and 
monks built for ages to 

come, with an eye also 
VIEW AT THE HEAD OF THE SAN ^^ ^^^^^ ^„j ^^.^^^^_ 

ANTONIO RIVER. g^j j„ American Sab- 

bath lovers there was great incongruity in the location of 
the cathedral, for a short distance back of its walls stands 
the city arena, where the worshippers, after services each 
Sunday, retire to witness and applaud the cruel, bloody 
and dangerous bull fights which take place there. At 
these fights atrocious 
cruelties are practiced 
and hundreds of bulls 
and horses are ruthless- 
ly killed annually, ane 
not unfrequently the 
matador (the man who 
fights against the bull) 
is gored to death The ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^_ 

bill boards of the town 
were covered with the most remarkable flaming posters 

62 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




announcing the grand regular bull fight for the following 

Sunday. The posters were printed half in English and 

half in Spanish. The English part of it read as follows: 

"Plaza de Toros de C. 

Juarez, Sunday 18, at 

8.30 in the night. The \ 

most sensational bul 

fight ever witnessed in |?k 

Juarez. Troupe of P 

youthful Amateurs, all 

Americans, belonging 

to the most exclusive 

society, of El Paso, 

^ ' , / DEER IN BRECKENRIDGE PARK, 

iexas, who nave oi- 

fered their services to ^AN ANTONIO, 

the Junta Patriotica for this bull fight, with a view of rais- 
ing funds for the Benito Juarez Monument, demonstrating 
as neighbors and friends of this Repubhc, that they are 
carried off by the National enthusiasm, which has been 
aroused to erect a monument to the memory of one of the 

greatest men in the His- 

tory of the Nation. 

4 — Brave Bulls — from 

^ Samalayuca and San 

• J Martin ranches. All to 

" ^ the death." The bill 




also gave a full list of 
the names of the mata- 
dores, picadores and 
banderilleros. The ad- 
mission price was named at seventy-five and fifty cents. 

63 



SAN ANTONIO 50 YEARS AGO. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

The remainder of the bill was taken up with the same ad- 
vertisement repeated in Spanish. 

Other public buildings, including the jail, were inspec- 
ted by the party, after which considerable time was spent 
in buying Mexican souvenirs, from the high conical Mexican 
pointed straw hat, with its bullion band, to the handsome 
Mexican blankets of most vivid hues. Strange as it may 
seem, when the newspaper men and their girls re-crossed 
the bridge into El Paso, and the United States, not one of 
them had any article on which to pay duty to Uncle Sam. 
Perhaps the custom house of^cers were just a little human 
that day and turned their blind side to the returning tour- 
ists. The remainder of the evening was spent in carriage 
drives around the fine roads of El Paso, and 8 o'clock the 
tourists again turned their faces westward. 







bird's-eye view of fort SAM 
HOUSTON. 

64 



CHAPTER X. 

THE DESERTS OF NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA — THE CACTI. 
THE CITIES OF TUCSON AND YUMA. 

THE way West from El Paso for over 1,800 miles, 
passing through New Mexico and Arizona, is over the 
dryest and most parched deserts in the United States, on 
which nothing but sage bush and cacti grow. Yet in all 
its forlomess the desert presented attractions to the student 
of nature, for the cacti in numberless varieties, shapes and 
forms for hundreds of miles stretched along the tracks with 
their bright and varied blooms, giving the sandy wastes a 
peculiar and irresistable beauty. At one time for miles and 
hours we passed through what seemed to be an endless 
garden of the species cacti known as "Spanish daggar" 
which were in full bloom and crowned with the most beau- 
tiful blooms of white flower-like bells, some blooms five feet 
long, that we had ever seen. We longed to stop the train 
that we might pluck a few of those majestic blooms and 
send them to our friends in the east. The cacti in many 
places were veritable forests with specimens from 8 to 12 
inches thick and growing to a height of 15 and 20 feet. 
The stations and towns along this road were small, few 
and far between, and water a scarce article, wells being as 
far as 70 miles apart, and to many of the railroad watering 
stations the water for the engines had to be hauled a much 

65 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




further distance. The railroad repairs along the Southern 
Pacific road are done by hands who are quartered in box 
cars, turned into sleeping cars and hauled from place to 
place as needed, and each gang carries its own cook and a 
water car tank, often an old abandoned oil car. So it is 
readily seen that the life of the railroad gang man is not a 
happy one, and they \i-i:,i'^j-' 

naturally have among 
their number some of 
the toughest specimens 
of humanity seen in the 
country. The great 
sand storms of these 
deserts, with their fierce 
winds laden with sand, 
in a few minutes will 
bury the railroad en- 
tirely out of sight and 
make it an imperative 
necessity for the road to 
keep numerous gangs 
along that part of the 
line to be quickly used 
when needed. The 
road in its course west 
rises to an elevation of 

5,082 feet above sea • ■- ^ ''' 

level, and then again it CROCKET STREET BRIDGE OVER 
goes down so low that SAN ANTONIO RIVER. 

at Salton it is 263 feet below the sea level. The road^ 
with its risings and fallings of grades, represents great en- 

66 






f 



\ 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



gineering feats, and it is wound around through rocky 
gorges and along sides of cHffs like a mighty serpent 
winding its way to the sea. In places benches were cut 
out of the sides of high cliffs, and large over-hanging rocks 
were left, which, to the timid passenger, seemed ready to 
fall at any minute and crush the cars and all therein. The 

road does not touch 
"^ any of the important 

towns of New Mexico, 
and the next place of 
any considerable mag- 
nitude after El Paso 
was Tucson, Arizona, 
which has a popula- 
approximating 20,000 
It is full of vim, push 
and energy, and has 
all the modem im- 
provements, with man- 
ufacturing plants, that 
many a larger city 
might be proud of. 
It is up at an eleva- 
tion of 2,400 feet 
above the sea, and is 
a veritable oasis in 
the desert; a beauty 
SAN FERNANDO CATHEDRAL AND spot in the sandy 
MILITARY PLAZA, SAN ANTONIO wastes. The early 
history of Tucson is full of romance, dating back to the 
days of the Spanish conquerors. The courageous Spanish 

67 





RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



padres, as early as 1649, carried their religious banners 
into that country, and founded the nearby San Xavier 
Mission. A settlement soon sprang up, and later came the 
Spanish garrison to protect the settlers from the raids of the 
blood-thirsty Apache Indians. The place soon came to be 
known as Tucson, from the name given by the Indians to 
the waters in the Santa Cruz Valley, near the town. La- 
ter, in 1853, Tucson and the surrounding lands, by the 
Gadsden purchase, became United States territory. The 

town later became an 
important station on the 
over-land coach mail 
route, and still later a 
hustling frontier town. 
Its future prosperity and 
growth was not fully 
assured until 1 884, when 
the Southern P a c i fi c 
Railroad was built into 
the town. Since that 
date the improvement 
Tucson has been rapid 
and substantial, until 
she has become a mod- 
ern city; a great busi- 
ness center; a metropolis 
of some very considerable importance. The city is full of 
modern homes and fine business houses, but it has still on 
it many of the marks of the Mexican domination — its nar- 
row streets, lined with adobe houses, and large Mexican 
population, who still cling to all the customs of their Spanish 

68 




A RIVER BRIDGE, SAN ANTONIO. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




MOONLIGHT ON THE COLORADO RIVER AT YUMA. 

ancestors. Even her nev/est buildings are built in beauti- 
ful Spanish and Aztec designs of architecture. It has its 
clubs, its churches and societies of the best secret orders to 
make life joyful and comfortable. With its important loca- 
tion and commercial enterprise, it presents many fine oppor- 
tunities to the business man and capitalist. 

Of course every one wanted a souvenir of the day. 
These Indians of the once fierce and powerful Yumas are 
now apparently as gentle as lambs, and given over to the 
ways of peace. But it was not always thus with them, for 
in their annals are traditions of many a bloody war-path. 
One of their most fiendish outrages was away back in 1781, 
when the braves, led by their demonical Chief Palmer, de- 
scended, like a thunder bolt out of the clear sky, upon the 
two Spanish missions near by, and with the utmost cruelty 
murdered all the peaceful friars, women and children, who 
had taken refuge in the mission buildings. For this out- 

69 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



rage dire revenge was later inflicted upon the Yum as, and 
they were glad to "bury the hatchet" and smoke the pipe 
of peace. The situation of Yuma is low, being only 140 
feet above the ocean level, but the air is dry and he?Jthy. 
The Yumaites will admit, with a smile, that it is occasion- 
ally just a trifle hot there in the summer time. Heat, of 
course, is entirely a matter of personal feeling. The city is 
progressive, and enjoys a good trade. The mines, the 
agricultural enterprises and the stock raising industry all 
contribute largely to the stability and wealth of the city. 
The business houses are modem and well suited for the 
demands of active business methods. The picturesque be- 
galleried buildings, which once were called Fort Yuma, 
have become devoted to the ways of peace, and now shelter 
the young Indians who are being taught to be good at the 
expense of Uncle Sam. The Colorado River — as its name 



n\ f 1 wliiffiijM^^i'*^' 




THE YUMA INDIAN FAMILY. 

70 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE PALM DRIVE, YUMA. 

signifies, is "red" at Yuma, with the soil of many an acre 
which it is carrying on its bosom to soften the outHnes of 
the Gulf of California below, where the river loses itself. 
The waters of the Colorado River, near Yuma, are being 
utilized to irrigate and reclaim some 50,000 acres of parch- 
ed and arid land. Looking to the north from Yuma, 65 
miles away, is seen, looming up in the clear sky, the hat 
peaked mountain named Castle Dome, and to the south 
Pilot Knob, which for hundreds of years have been guiding 
signs for the voyagers of the plains. 

From Tucson the railroad rapidly descends from the 
"divide" until at Yuma, Arizona, it is but 140 feet above 
the level of the ocean. This city is said to be the hottest 
place on the face of God's green earth. It is related that 
a former wicked man of Yuma was called to his reward and 
awoke in the realms of his Satanic majesty, and found the 
heat there so cold that he had to come back to Yuma to get 

71 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

his blankets to keep him warm in his new home. Yuma is 
situated at the meeting place of the powerful Colorado 
River and Gila River — an abundance of water — and still 
the people there are very partial to the drink that made 
Gambrinus famous. Numerous Indians live in and around 
the city, and they flock to the station on the arrival of trains 
to sell the guilelss and unwary tourist their crude bead and 
feather work at large prices. At Yuma the tourists saw 
their first oranges and lemons growing on the trees. 




THE YUMA INDIAN ROSE BUD. 



72 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PLAINS AND VALLEYS OF CALIFORNIA — THE GOL- 
DEN STATE — THE SEA OF SALT. 

FROM Yuma the Colorado River was crossed and the 
Sunset State of California was reached on the further 
bank of the stream. There was a long run through arid 
plains on first reaching California. At Salton a salt lake 
was seen, where the waters evaporate quickly leaving a 
good grade of salt, which is hauled away by the car load 
and purified for commercial use. This part of California 
has such a pure air and dry climate that the high tempera- 
ture has no ill effect on .the people, while the nights are 
cool, allowing refreshing sleep. The country, with its fine 
climate is a veritable Mecca for persons suffering from tu- 
berculosis. 

Salton and the surrounding country is in a large basin 
of what was once, doubtless, a vast inland sea. The land 
is about 300 feet below the level of the ocean. Back for a 
hundred years and more, to the time that the memory of 
man runneth not to the contrary, the valley surrounding 
Salton was a waterless, sandy waste. About two years 
ago the water was noticed to be rising in the lowest part 
of the valley, and soon Salton Lake was formed. Various 
theories have been advanced for the sudden appearance of 
the lake, but the most reasonable one is that the waters 
escaped through some underground channels from the im- 

73 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




GENERAL VIEW OF YUMA, ARIZONA. 

mense irrigation plants in Arizona. At Indio, 25 miles 
farther west, we found hosts of consumptives sleeping out 
under the trees in mosquito net covered cots. Here we 
were told have been wrought most wonderful cures by 
Nature's own restoratives. Patients have come there so 
weak and exhausted that they had to be carried off the 
cars, helpless as httle babies, to rise strong men and walk 
away the next summer fully restored to health. Inva- 
lids from all parts of the world flock to Indio for relief; few 
there are who go away uncured, and none go away with- 
out receiving some substantial relief. 

Surrounding the station is a scene of rare tropical 
beauty — there are the vine and fig-tree, the orange, stately 
palm trees, luxuriant flowers and other tropical growths. 
Indio lies down far below the level of the ocean, in what 
was once the bottom of an inland sea of vast expanse. We 

74 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




ARISTOCRATIC PORTION OF MEXI- 
CAN QUARTER, SAN ANTONIO. 



observed no particular 
difference in the atmos- 
phere, or comfort of 
breathing. The geo- 
logical evidences indi- 
cate that where Tndio 
now stands the briny 
waves were once fath- 
oms deep. Abundant 
supplys of good, pure 
and clear water for man 
and beast, and for re- 
freshing the thirsty 
land are obtained from 
deep artesian wells. There is hotel and boarding accommo- 
dations for travelers at Indio. A finely equipped sanitarium 
provides for all the wants of invalids. When the train 
stopped at the station a host of children — white, black and 
brown — besieged the passengers to buy oranges, fine sweet 
ones, at the rate of two dozen for a 25-cent piece. "One 
curious effect of reflected sunlight, atmosphere, salt and 
chlorine gas, always to be seen at points between Indio 
and Volcano Springs, and called Mirage, is the appearance 
of a beautiful body of water at the south, with islands, large 
and small, trees and verdure, and invitation to the thirsty 
to come and be satisfied; but go not, for it is waterless — not 
a drop to be had, though you died for it." 

There has been some talk of establishing a national 
sanitarium for consumptives at Indio, and there are strong 
hopes that the project will materialize. The editors on the 
morning of June 16th opened their eyes early to gaze upon 

75 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



the scenes that help to make Cahfornia great. Fields so 
large, that farms in the east seem small by comparison, 
were seen, made fertile by irrigation, and closely followed 
acre upon acre of bright green orchards, with the sparkling, 
life-giving water flowing between their rows, and the trees 
ladened with the finest of fruit — plums, olives, figs, apples, 
peaches, oranges and lemons. 

In the distance, from the railroad, were seen the noble 
hills and grand mountain tops. To the traveler California, 
so vast and so varied, is bewildering. Few, even of its 
old residents, know one-half of its attributes or its charms. 
Its very sun and sky and air fascinate. Frowning cliffs 
and towering trees all speak of the wonders of out-of-door 
living. The valleys, the hills, the peaks and the grand 
and rugged mountains, with snow clad crests, and the 
never-tiring sea, make pic- 
tures of sublimest beauty, 
to charm even the dullest 
mind. The climate of the 
"Golden State" is most 
wonderful. In the valleys 
are found days of contin- -^ 
ued sunshine, where 330 
days out of the whole year 
are bright and rainless — 
a perfect tropic climate, 
with all the tropical fruits 
from the palm date to the 
pomegranate. In the dis- 
tant foothills hides a more 
bracing air, while in the 




LADY OF THE LAKE SCHOOL, 
SAN ANTONIO. 



76 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

more distant high 
mountains the bracing 
air of winter may be 
found, and in the win- 
ter months the visitor 
may then have all the 
sleigh rides he wants, 
with all the other win- 
ter sports. The win- 
ters in California are 

ideal, and cause thous- ~^ """' 

ands annually to flee SAINT LOUIS COLLEGE, SAN ANTONIO 
there to escape the rigorous winters in the east, for in the 
valleys and on the sea coast can be found a tropical climate 
all the year around. The summers of that State are simply 
idyllic, for all the days are bright and full of sunshine, and 
pleasant, and no rain comes to mar the pleasures of out- 
of-door life. The heat is dry, but not oppressive, while the 
shades of night continually bring cool and refreshing 
breezes, inviting sweet and restful sleep. The hottest days 
are always followed by cool nights. The climate is the 
most equable known. The State is full of mineral springs. 
In the Sierra Nevada Mountain region, and other parts of 
the State, are enough health-giving mineral springs of the 
greatest ef^ciency to drive the baths of Germany out of 
business could the health restoring qualities of their waters 
become known to the many sufferers who annually seek the 
waters of Europe. 

The State is full of all kinds of game; the lakes and 
rivers are teeming with the gamey trout, and all other kinds 
of fish, making it a veritable sportsman's paradise, for there 

77 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



are no rains to come and spoil his plans or mar his sport; 
so that life in camp is one continued round of joy and 
pleasure. 

CaHfomia obtained its name, the ''Golden State," from 
the fact that it is so rich in gold-bearing sands and rocks. 
On January 19th, 1848, gold was first discovered in Cali- 
fornia, when James W. Marshall, an employee of General 
John A. Sutter, found in the mill-race of Coloma, El Dora- 
do county; bits of sparkling metal that he knew were gold. 
Like the shots at Lexington and Concord, Marshall's cry 
of "gold" was heard 'round the world. Hither in two 
years thereafter from over land and over seas came more 
than a 100,000 adventurous men to dig for the yellow metal. 
The State from that day to the present has continued to 
produce from her mountains and rivers vast quantities of 
the golden treasure, enriching the seekers after wealth. 

In fruits and grain and all kinds of vegetables Cali- 
fornia stand in the front ranks of production, while her hills 
and mountains produce coal and all kinds of minerals, and 
her pastures raise sleek cattle, fat sheep and fast horses. 
A hundred years or so ago a Spaniard planted some pota- 
toes in Southern Cali- 
fornia, but before he 
could dig his crop a 
band of Indians drove 
him out of the section. 
Recently some excava- 
tors on the site of the 
potato patch dug up a 
fine crop stones, the po- 
FALLS ON SAN ANTONIO RIVER, tatoes having petrified 

78 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 





into that material. The 
varied manufactories of 
the State provide amp- 
ly for the needs of her 
people. She is a veri- 
table empire within her- 
self. It is said that 
California, by reason of 
THE CARNEGIE LIBRARY, SAN vast resources and var- 
ANTONIO. ied industries, is the 

only State in the Union which is entirely self-supporting, 
and that she could be lifted up bodily and set down in the 
midst of the great Pacific Ocean and still go on in her self- 
supporting way. 

Saturday afternoon as the train speeded past the vast 
wheat fields, with their golden grain, the pencil pushers saw 
an example of western push and energy. In the fields were 
seen large machines which are pushed instead of pulled by 
the horses. These machines, we were told, were "head- 
ers," or machines, which, as they pass through the fields, 
cut off only about six inches of the top of the wheat and 
bunch it up. These heads are then taken to another part 
of the field, where a large steam thresher stands at work, 
and soon the golden grain is taken from the chaff. After 
the header follows the mower, which cuts down the straw, 
and a baler nearby packs the straw in bales ready for ship- 
ment to the markets far and near for feed. Thus it is the 
harvesting and threshing are done in the fields, as a con- 
tinuous performance, and there is not the double handling 
of crops seen in the east; nor is there any need of big barns 
to store the grain in the sheaf, for the grain goes from the 

79 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

fields to the waiting markets, and is quickly transferred to 
the life-giving bread to feed the nation. Farming is done 
on such a large scale that most of it is done by machinery, 
and but little hand labor is necessary on most of the farms. 
The vast level fields in the valleys and plains make it a 
very simple and easy matter to use the complicated mach- 
inery. The ease with which those people farm would make 
the Pennsylvania farmer envious could he see them. There 
was something of interest and wonderment that met the 
views of the travelers all along the way, and even the des- 
erts were not without their attractions. But it remained for 
California to give the tourists the biggest surprises. 

After a hard and tiresome day the editors retired to 
their berths and dreamless sleep on Saturday night, and the 
"music" made by several gentlemen on the car, who did 
not snore, failed to keep them awake. 




80 



CHAPTER XII. 



RIVERSIDE — HOME OF THE ORANGES — THE MAGNOLIAS. 



The awakening of the editors on the morning of Sun- 
day, June 18th, was one of great surprise; one of seeming 
enchantment; for when they retired to sleep the night be- 
fore there were no signs of a city, but only vast fields. 
Now, when they looked out of the windows of their cars 
they saw their train was standing on the streets of River- 
side, one of the most beautiful cities in California, and to 
the right of the train was one of the most beautiful parks 
imaginable, filled with many varieties of the tallest and 
handsomest palms, tree ferns, tropical plants, gorgeous flow- 




ORANGE GROVES AND MOUNTAINS, RIVERSIDE. 

81 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




A PALATIAL HOME, RIVERSIDE, 
ers and orange trees loaded with golden fruit. It seemed 
as if the editors had dropped down into Paradise. It took 
but little time for the editors to alight from the train and 
start to investigate these unwonted and, to many unknown, 
beauties of nature. Some passed through the residental 
streets beyond, and there they found orange trees growing 
in profusion. One lady handed an editor a garden rake 
and told the boys to help themselves. It did not require a 
second invitation of that kind, and the editors were soon 
raking the sweet, luscious, juicy fruit from the trees in large 
quantities. 

The party took early breakfasts at the vatious hotels 
and restaurants, after which they boarded special trolley 
cars provided by the Chamber of Commerce and proceeded 
to see the sights of that most beautiful city, first running 
out Magnolia Avenue, so called because it was lined by 
those beautiful trees, loaded down with a wealth of scented 
flowers. The fine sights of the city, the places of business 

82 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




and the palatial homes of the people of wealth were seen. 
The cars ran out into the country, so that the visitors might 
see the orange groves and orchards. One spot visited was 
a high round topped hill whose sides were terraced to the 
foot and each terrace filled with orange trees and loaded 

with fruit, some 
green and many 
ripe, on the same 
tree. On their 
return to the city 
the party was ta- 
ken to the Glen- 
wood Hotel, one 
of the finest and 
most completely 
equipped in Cali- 
fornia, which is 
THE GLENWOOD HOTEL, RIVERSIDE. 

' saymg a great 

deal. All that one needs to enjoy life at that great cara- 
vansary is money. The hotel was originally an old Span- 
ish mission, and was known for a time as the Mission Ho- 
tel, but it soon outgrew the demands of the tourists, and 
the new palatial building was erected a few years ago. The 
old building still stands in the grounds, in front of the present 
hotel, and is used as a writing and waiting room for the 
guests. In front of this building stands the original naval 
orange tree imported from Brazil. The tree was trans- 
planted to its present position a few months ago by Presi- 
dent Roosevelt. At Riverside the tourists were in the cen- 
tre of the orange district of California, Riverside county 
alone having over 20,000 acres of land devoted to the cul- 

83 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




AN ORANGE PICKING SCENE, RIVERSIDE. 
tivation of oranges. All land there is not perfectly adapted 
to the culture of oranges, and for that reason good orange 
land sells as high as $2,000 an acre, and in some instances 
has been sold at a much higher figure. It takes about ten 
years for an orange orchard to come to the profitable bear- 
ing age, and if the land is not all right the "tenderfoot" 
will loose all the thousands he has invested in his orchard 
of golden fruit. Yet, when the land is right, and the orch- 
ard matures properly, there is a mint of golden money in 
the golden fruit for the fortunate possessor of the orchard. 
The introduction of the seedless navel orange has revolu- 
tionized the orange industry of the United States, and es- 
pecially in California. The first trees were sent to this 
country by William Judson, United States Consul to Bahia, 
Brazil. Hearing an account told by the natives of a few of 
the trees bearing the seedless fruit in the swamps along the 
Amazon, he sent for some of the sprigs. At first the De- 
partment of Agriculture did not seem to pay much atten- 

84 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

tion to the new trees; but when one of them, which had 
been planted in CaHfomia, bore some of the dehcious fruit, 
interest was aroused, and the industry had its beginning. 
The yield in California is worth milhons annually. 

After the sights of Riverside were exhausted a run of 
50 miles was soon made by the special train, and the me- 
tropolis of Southern California, the City of Los Angeles, was 
reached. The run up to the city was through vast orch- 
ards of oranges, lemons, olives and other fruits. 




ONE OF THE FINE PUBLIC BUILDINGS, RIVERSIDE. 



85 



CHAPTER XIII. 

LOS ANGELES — PASADENA, THE BEAUTIFUL — MOUNT 
LOWE — THE ALPINE TAVERN. 

ON arrival of the editorial train at the Arcade station, 
Los Angeles, the party took the special trolley cars 
in waiting and were conveyed to the palatial and magnifi- 
cent Lankershim Hotel, which was made headquarters 
during the sojourn in that city. As it was Sunday after- 
noon, most of the party spent the time quietly resting at the 
hotel. In the evening many of the party wishing to hear 
a noted divine, went to the Presbyterian Church to hear 
Rev. Frank Talmage, son the famous Rev. Dr. Dewitt Tal- 
mage, preach. The boys were disappointed, and did not 
hesitate to say that the son could not hold a candle to his 
most illustrious father. It was apparently a case of the son 
winning glory through the fame of his father. 

During the stay in Los Angeles the editors were the 
guests of the Chamber of Commerce, composed of the fin- 
est, most energetic and public spirited men we have met 
anywhere, and each one of them has the advancement of 
California, and especially of Los Angeles, at heart, and is 
full of information, facts and figures touching the growth 
and possibilities of that favored land with which to interest 
and entertain their visitors. It goes without the saying 
that the members of the Chamber of Commerce acquitted 
themselves royally in the entertainment of their guests. 

86 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



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ygBMH^ - '■/S, •.^'■- ""; ,„ ■■ >;tSy^. . 









THE RESDENCE OF DR. A. C. BRIGGS, PASADENA. 

Monday morning, June 19th, the entire party was 
taken out on trolley cars to Pasadena, a short distance 
from Los Angeles, which is filled with palatial houses, and 
is said to be the wealthiest city of its size in the United 
States, if not in the world. Like New York, it has is mil- 
lionaire row, of palaces of the very wealthy. 

The name Pasadena is derived from the Spanish 
words Paso de Eden (the Threshold of Eden) and well 
might one think it was Eden, for there is the bright sky, 
the most beautiful flowers, the rare palms and magnificent 
tropical trees, the beautiful and radiant valley stretching 
mile upon mile below, and the homes of beauty and gran- 
deur. Among the celebrities who dwell there are the fam- 
ous Bob Burdette, the brilliant lecturer, of Burlington Hawk- 

87 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



eye fame, who is now a noted Baptist divine, and Mrs. 
James Garfield, widow of the martyred president. Next 
the modest cottage of Mrs. Garfield, by strange irony of 
fate, stands the palatial home of the sister of Guiteau, the 
notorious. 

One of the sights of Pasadena is the magnificent, royal 
hotel. The Raymond, one of the most luxuriously appointed 
hotels in the world. That hotel was built to cater to "par- 
ticular people with means," and that means you can have 
all the luxurious comforts home, but you must pay for your 
entertainment with plenty of ready cash. The hotel is sit- 
uated on quite a hill, about a mile outside of the city of 
Pasadena, and has a commanding view of the beautiful 




THE HOTEL RAYMOND, PASADENA. 

88 



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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



San Gabriel Valley. Although the hotel is located on a 
hill, no climbing is necessary to reach it. Guests enter a 
tunnel, or subway, at the foot of the hill running 305 feet 
straight into the earth. At the end of the subway, which 
is lighted by electricity and adorned with rows of potted 

flowers and palms, are the 
elevators which carry the 
guests to the hotel rotunda. 
Upon entering the hotel one 
is charmed with its appoint- 
ments. All are in exquisite 
taste and on a lavish scale. 
The hotel library for the free 
use of the guests has over 
500 volumes on its shelves. 
The trolleys took the editors 
to the foot of Mount Lowe, 
where an incline railway 
3,000 feet long landed them 
on the top of Echo Moun- 
tain. The incline, with its 
topless cars, was a thing of 
terror to the timid. It rises 
to an altitude of 1,400 feet 
THE MOUNT LOWE INCLINE and most of the way up the 
ELECTRIC RAILWAY. grade is 62 per cent per 100 

feet. At the top another set of trolley cars were boarded 
for what proved to be a terrifying ride to the top of the 
mountain, on which stands the Alpine Tavern, over a mile 
above the sea. The road is five miles long, and has in it 
no less than 300 curves, while the longest piece of straight 

89 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

track is 225 feet. The road as it ascends the mountain 
winds through gorges and along the edges of the most pre- 
cipitous cHffs, by the side of dark and cavernous chasms, 
which follow each other in rapid succession, and many of 
the men in the party, as well as the ladies, were so wrought 
up by the dangerous ride that they were unable to eat the 
excellent dinner that had deen provided at the Alpine Tav- 
ern. It was intimated that even the two gray headed vet- 
erans from Armstrong county were so badly frightened that 
they had recourse to the forgotten supplications of their 
youth. To those who could enjoy the ride it was a rich 
and rare treat. The panorama, as the road ascended the 
mountains, of the valleys, hills and mountains spread out in 
a picturesque, and grand scene, thrilling the spectator and 
filling him with wonder, pleasure and delight — a scene is 
presented beyond words to describe. At every curve in 
the road a new picture of the beauty of Nature's creation 
was presented. Close by were the rugged mountains; the 
chasms, precipices and gorges, while 6,000 feet below, in 
the valley, spread the farms, vineyards and orange groves. 
The Alpine Tavern, where the dinner was served, is a 
quaint structure, built after the style of the Swiss chalets so 
familiar to the traveler on the Alps in Switzerland. From 
the Tavern and Prophet Point, on a clear day, can be seen 
a magnificent vista stretching up to Los Angeles and miles 
beyond to the channel islands in the sea. 

The descent of the mountain was even more terrifying 
than the ascent; for as the passenger sat looking down the 
the mountain it seemed as if every moment the cars must 
leave the rails. Yet the descent was safely made, and 
none were any worse for the trip, except those who lost 

90 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



their fine dinner. On returning to Pasadena the Chamber 
of Commerce took the editors around in carriages to see 
those portions of the city that cannot be seen from the trol- 
leys, and the palaces of the rich, with their lawns filled with 
flowers, palms and all kinds of tropical trees, and fuchias 
and rose bushes that were veritable trees, were viewed with 
pleasure. There is not another city of its size in the country 
so w^ell supplied with hotels as is Pasadena, for in addition 
to The Raymond, already referred to, it has the palatial 

Hotel Green, 
with its six 
stories, which 
occupies two 
city blocks, 
and has all 
the comforts 
so much de- 
sired by ex- 
THE HOTEL GREEN. travagant 

Americans, and was erected at a cost of over $1,000,000. 
Then there is the beautiful Hotel La Pentoresca, accommo- 
dating about 500 guests; while there are also dozens of 
fine, but smaller, hotels where all kinds of accommodations 
can be had at all scales of prices. 

At South Pasadena is an unique business enterprise — 
The Ostrich Farm. It is the only farm of the kind out- 
side of the sandy deserts of Africa. Here there is a flock 
of about 200 ostriches — from the freshly hatched chicks to 
the full-grown birds. The company owning the farm do a 
large and profitable business in the sale of the "plumes" 
and various articles made from the feathers of the birds. 




91 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE HOME OF ADOLPH BUSCH, PASADENA. 

There is no winter there as we know it in the East, 
for the mean annual temperature does not vary much from 
60 degrees. Pasadena has been justly called the "City 
Beautiful." Speaking of winter there a visiting poet said: 

Across the lawn and past the flowing fountain, 
A bare-foot boy chasing butterflies, 

My childhood's terror has become an angel, 
Winter and I have met in Paradise. 

Pasadena, on each recurring New Year's day, has a 
magnificent celebration that draws thousands of visitors 
from far and near to its hospitable borders. It is called the 
"Tournament of Roses." It opens up in the morning with 
a long procession of carriages, automobiles, pony carts, 
donkey carts and vehicles of every description, all profuse- 

92 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

ly, beautifully and artistically decorated — aye, smothered 
in the most gorgeous, beautiful and fragrant roses. Then 
follows the "Battle of Flowers," engaged in by the white 
and hoary-headed sage, as well as the smallest tottering 
child. Once seen, this beautiful pageant will never be for- 
gotten. In the afternoon are held the exciting chariot ra- 
ces, and the gaiety of the day finds a fitting climax in the 
grand ball in the evening, where is seen not only the youth 
and beauty and wealth of California, but of many a sister 
state and foreign country. 

Pasadena has a special city charter which does not 
allow a single liquor saloon to be opened in the city, hence 
the chief of police and his subordinates are very much like 




A GLIMPSE OF THE HOTEL MARYLAND. 

93 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

soldiers on dress parade, with little or nothing to do. 
After the drive encircling the city the editorial party 
was escorted to the magnificent Hotel Maryland, and 
tendered an elegant reception by the citizens of Pasadena. 
At the conclusion of that function, the party took the trol- 
ley cars and returned to their hotel in Los Angeles. Mr. 
Warren White, editor of The Journal, Los Angeles' most 
popular and influential daily paper, tendered the party one 
of the most enjoyable receptions of the trip at his hand- 
some home in the suburbs of the city. The White man- 
sion stands in a large private park of over two acres in ex- 
tent, which is adorned with all kinds of beautiful and gor- 
geous flowers and palms, ferns and tropical plants, making 
it a veritable bower of beauty. The enchantment of the 
scene was enhanced by hundreds of electric lights scattered 
through all parts of the grounds, while a fine orchestra 
hidden in the shadows poured forth strains of sweet music. 
Just enough bright speeches were delivered to promote the 
harmony of the gathering, and a most generous amount of 
refreshments were served to make every one feel good and 
happy. Brother White played the part of host to perfec- 
tion, and no one hesitated to vote him a "white" man and 
a jolly good fellow. May his good fortune continue and 
his shadow never grow less is the ardent wish of the N. E. A. 



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CHAPTER XIV. 

SANTA CATALINA ISLAND — THE MARINE GARDENS — 
THE LEAPING TUNA. 

TUESDAY morning, June 20th, found all the editors 
Stirring early, preparing for an experience new to most 
of them — a ride on the briny deep — the Pacific Ocean. A 
special train conveyed the party to San Pedro, a shore 
town, on the Pacific Ocean, a distance of 15 miles from 
Los Angeles, where they were soon hustled on board a 
small steamer for a 27-mile ride out on the ocean to the 
famous Santa Catalina Island. The ride was much enjoy- 
ed by the few who had good safe stomachs and easy con- 
sciences, but the poor fellows who had a past and decidedly 
uneasy consciences paid tribute to Neptune in no uncertain 
way. These latter ones were so miserable that they smiled 
not, nor noticed neither friend nor foe. All that they de- 
sired was to be left alone in their misery. They had all 
the qualms of the genuine "mal de mere." First they had 
chills playing foot ball up and down their spines; then they 
burnt up with fever; later they donated their breakfast and 
every other loose thing to the mighty deep. In the first 
stage they feared they were going to die — next they did 
not care whether they died or not, and at last they wanted to 
die. The good sailors of the party were merciless in their 
chaffing of their less fortunate comrades, and suggested all 
manner of good things to eat to their great agony and dis- 

95 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



tress of stomach. One poor fellow who had struggled hard 
to save part of his anatomy from the cruel waves, was af- 
fronted by his better-half, who came upon the deck and 
asked him: — 
"Robert, have 
the children 
come up yet?" 
He paused 
long enough 
in his strug- 
gles to reply 
in an aggriev- 
ed tone: "I 
don't know a 
d — n thing 
about the chil- 
dren,but every 
thing else has 
come up." 
Many of our 
party for some 
years cherish- 
ed fond dream 
of the delights 
of a voyage 
across the 
broad Atlant- 
ic to view 

Cathy's fabled shore; but a few hours on the bosom of the 
calm Pacific shattered this dream into infinitesimal frag- 
ments. The ocean for them was no longer blue, but ugly, 

96 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

green, salty and decidedly shaky. The charms of a life 
on the ocean wave were gone, and they at once gave up 
hopes of seeing Europe until the bridge be built across 
Behring Strait, when they can travel on the train "de luxe." 
If there had been any dry way of walking back those fel- 
lows would not have again trusted their bodies and fortunes 
to that shaky boat for the return trip. The truth of the 
matter is the waves were calm — they were only little baby 
waves, and it is thought that some of the editors grew sick 
at seeing so much "unmixed" water at one time. They 
even did not have time to watch the flying fish which were 
skimming plentifully about the ship all the way out. These 
fish use their four peculiar shaped fins for sailing over the 
water, and go as far as 400 feet in a single flight. They 
average from 12 to 18 inches long. 

The objective point of the voyage was Avalon, the 
main town and port of Santa Catalina Island, located on a 
beautiful, natural land-locked harbor. The island is about 
30 miles long and its area is 40,000 acres. It is an im- 
mense mountain, with sloping sides, which has been thrust 
up out of the depths of the Pacific Ocean by some volcanic 
action, and is a place of great beauty. It abounds in game 
and the waters surrounding it are full of fish, large and 
small, including the great leaping tuna, running in weight 
to 300 pounds, making the place a ideal sportsman's para- 
dise. 

Avalon has its Tuna Club of 150 members. Each 

season a gold medal is awarded the member who lands the 
biggest tuna. It is claimed that one tuna is the equal of 
two or three tarpon in point of strength. It takes from 30 
minutes to seven hours to land one of those "kings of the 

97 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




PORT AND STEAMER LANDING, AVALON. 

deep," and they have been known to tow a boat 20 miles 
before they would give up the fight. The record catches 
with rod and reel for single fish are as follows: 

Col. C. P. Moorehouse. Pasadena, 251 pounds 

Mrs. E. N. Dickinson, New York, 216 " 

John E. Stearns, Los Angeles, 197 " 

Charles F. Holder, Pasadena, 183 " 

The ocean water is so clear and calm in the bay at 
Avalon that the beautiful marine growths can be distinctly 
seen at a depth of 150 feet from the glass-bottomed boats 
provided for that purpose. The growth on the ocean's bot- 
tom there of ferns, mosses and sea weeds, some 40 and 50 
feet tall, are so beautifully colored in rich and harmonious 
hues and tints, and of peculiar and fantastic shapes, that 
they are appropriately called sub-marine gardens. It seems 
strange that nature should be so prodigal with such rich 
colorings so deep beneath the ocean waves, and when one 
holds a piece of moss colored in the most delicate shades of 
blue and purple it is hard to realize that its home was deep 

98 



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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

beneath the salty waves. The abalone shells gathered on 
the shores of the island and under the water are most quaint 
and beautiful, tinted, as they are, with all the delicate hues 
of the rainbow. From these shells are made all sorts of 
souvenirs, including stick-pins and other sorts of jewelry. 

The flesh of the abalone sometimes weighs as much as 
two pounds. It is much esteemed for food by the Chinese 
and Japanese, and it is dried and shipped in great quanti- 
ties to the Orient. An American company now operates a 
large cannery at Cayucos, California, where they prepare, 
can and ship large quantities of cooked and also dried aba- 
lonesfor the home and foreign markets. By many the ab- 
alone is regarded as a much cleaner, wholesome and deli- 
cate food than the oyster. 

There is fine still water bathing and the Hotel Metropole 
affords first-class accommodations for visitors, making the 
island a fine winter, as well as summer resort. There is 
always a crowd of boys, who are expert divers, at the bath- 
ing places, ready to dive from the boats into the deep water 
after the dimes and nickles which the visitors may throw in. 
The entire island is owned by one man, who is making a 
mint of it and its attractions for strangers, and his resour- 
ces from the people to whom he grants concessions are 
enormous. After a few hours spent most pleasantly on the 
island the editors re-embarked and returned to Los Angeles. 

A hundred miles and more to the south of Los Ange- 
les, on a beautiful bay, which glows like a golden mirror in 
the sunshine, is the ancient and attractive city of San Diego, 
which has become a most popular winter play-ground for 
tourists from all part of the world. Here it was in the hot 
summer that the valiant and saintly Padre Junipero Serra 

LOfC.99 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

landed, and on July 16th, 1769, founded the Mission San 
Diego de Alcala, the first of the 2 1 Spanish missions which 
in after years did so much for the conquest and civilization 
of that country. 

That colony flourished, and on November 1st, 1776, 
Father Serra established nearby the Mission San Juan de 
Capistrano, which now has fallen into a beautiful and pa- 
thetic ruin. Out on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, 
scarce a mile from the shore, is erected the pretentious and 
mammoth Hotel Del Coronado, one of California's most 
famous and popular caravansaries. Here could be most 
comfortably accommodated in regal style a whole regiment 
of guests at one time. 





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CHAPTER XV. 

LOS ANGELES — THE CITY OF ANGELS — ITS POWER 
AND BEAUTY. 

THE evening in Los Angeles was taken up by the final 
reception given by the Chamber Commerce in their 
handsome building on Broadway, and it was a very pleas- 
ant affair. Many happy speeches were made, light lunch 
was served and sweet music by an orchestra enlivened the 
occasion. The reception took place in the museum room, 
a very fine and complete apartment, filled with all manner 
of relics and curios typical of the early days of California, 
during the period of Spanish domination. There is also a 
complete display of all the fruits, products, minerals, woods 
and fauna of the State, particularly of that section. Here, 
in a few hours, can be learned all about the resources and 
possibilities of the Golden State. 

The town, or pueblo of Los Angeles, as the Spaniards 
called their towns, had a romantic commencement, and its 
first name was Ruestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles — 
"Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels." The town was 
founded September 4th, 1771, by a small band of Spanish 
pobladores, or colonists, and from that small beginning it 
has grown to be a magnificent city of 200,000 souls. It 
has over 350 miles of graded streets, 25 miles of paved 
streets, and is the commercial metropolis of Southern Cali- 
fornia. The principal exports are fruits, fresh and dried, 

101 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




vegetables, beans, 
wine and brandy, 
wool, honey, canned 
goods, sugar, wheat, 
corn and barley. Its 
banks' deposits ap- 
proximate $70,000,- 
000, and in 1904 
the bank clearaces 
amounted to over 
$335,000,000. The 
assessed valuation 
of property runs over 
$150,000,000; this, 
on a basis of one- 
third valuation, 
would show real es- 
tate worth about 
$450,000,000. It 
has four trans-cont- 
inental lines enter- 
ing the city — the 
Southern Pacific 
Railway, the Santa 
Fe Railroad, the ^ STREET SCENE IN JANUARY, 

Sunset Route and LOS ANGELES. 

San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad. It also 
has a deep water harbor at San Pedro on the Pacific Ocean, 
15 miles from the city, from whence its products are shipped 
to the uttermost parts of the earth. 

The city is one of the best lighted in the world, its 

102 



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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

lighting being done by an admirable system of electric 
lights extending all over the city. Many of the lights are 
placed on exceedingly high masts, and seen from one of 
the surrounding hills, the view of the city at night is strik- 
ingly beautiful. Broadway, there, is the most brilHantly 
lighted street in the world. It is lined from one end to the 
other with handsome electroliers, 50 feet apart, on which 
are clusters of three large frosted globes in which shine 
brilliant and strong incandescent lights, making the thor- 
oughfare as light as day. 

One need not walk in Los Angeles for lack of cars, 
for there are over 200 miles of well equipped electric lines 
in the city. There are also excellent suburban trolley lines 
running to Santa Monica, Redondo, Long Beach, Pasa- 
dena, Altadena, San Pedro, Alhambra, San Gabriel, Mon- 
rovia, Whittier and Glendale. A project is on foot to build 
an extensive suburban belt line taking in all the towns 
within a radius of 30 miles of Los Angeles. 

There are a dozen fine parks within the city limits, 
having a total area of over 600 acres. The city also owns 
Elysian Park, containing some 500 acres, which they ex- 
pect to greatly improve and make one of the finest munici- 
pal parks in the land. 

It is a city of handsome homes, of the most beautiful 
gardens in the world, and the mild climate enables them to 
raise the most delicate plants and flowers, while all manner 
of tropical plants, flowers and ferns thrive there and obtain 
a most brilliant beauty. At Christmas time may be seen 
hedges of calla lilies in bloom and rose and geranium trees 
10 and 15 feet high crowned with a wealth of beautiful 
flowers. All the residences stand far back from the street 

103 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




TROPICAL PALM HOME, LOS ANGELES. 

line on well-kept lawns. There is no winter and no hot 
summer in Los Angeles. They have what they call an 
"all-the-year-'round climate," that is, no extremes of either 
heat or cold. There is always a pleasant breeze coming 
inland from the ocean, and a record of the thermometer for 
10 years shows their hottest day to have been 97 in Sep- 
tember, and the coldest day to have been 34 above zero in 
January. Certainly it is, as the Angelesians say, an ideal 
climate to bring health, comfort and happiness to all who 
are fortunate enough to live in it. 

The business houses are many and large, and devoted 
to all lines of commercial trade. Last year there were 
shipped from Southern California no less than 28,000 car 
loads of lemons and oranges. In the neighborhood of the 
city hundreds of acres are devoted to the culture of celery, 
which is shipped to the East by the train loads. A few 

104 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

miles out in the country the eyes of the traveler meet with 
a surprising and beautiful sight. It is nothing less than 
acre upon acre crowned with calla lilies, tuberoses, carna- 
tions and numerous other varieties of beautiful flowers, be- 
ing raised thus outdoors wholesale for the markets. They 
are sold as cut flowers, while the bulbs and seeds are ship- 
ped in great quantities to the Eastern markets. 

The prices of farm lands in the vicinity of Los Ange- 
les ranges from $30 to $100 per acre for hay and wheat 
land, to $250 to $300 for irrigated land adapted to fruit 
culture, A short distance south of Los Angeles are highly 
productive oil fields. Last year Southern California alone 
produced close to 28,000,000 barrels of oil. The California 
oil is much heavier than the eastern oil, and is especially 
well adapted for fuel. It is said that this fuel oil at $1 per 
barrel is equivalent to a ton of coal at $4 per ton. Their 
oil is now being used extensively on the railroads, and also 
in the manufactories, and makes a cheap and very clean 
fuel. The oil fuel is surely destined to make a radical 
change in the near future in manufacturing and power pro- 
ducing plants. 

Although it is only a little over 10 years since oil was 
first discovered in California, the State from the fields in the 
Newhall, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Kean, King and 
Fresno districts is producing annually upwards of 50,000,- 
000 barrels of oil. It is true that the California oil is not 
of the same grade as the Pennsylvania product, but it 
makes a fine lubricant, and is a most excellent and power- 
ful fuel. 

Los Angeles is about to tussle with the drink question 
in a novel manner. The problem is to be met and carried 

105 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE PALM BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES. 

out as a cold business proposition. A syndicate of 25 
prominent business men — bankers, merchants, lawyers and 
capitalists, has been formed to take over all the 200 licenses 
now in force to sell liquor in the city. It not is a scheme 
for the purpose of making money, but a plan to adopt the 
Gothenburg ( Sweden ) system of controling the liquor trafific 
in order to minimize its evils. The syndicate is to close 
130 of the present 200 saloons, run the remaining 70 and 
pay the city the same license fee as it receives from the 200. 
All profits in excess of six per cent will be paid into the 
city treasury for the purpose of decreasing taxation and of 
increasing school facilities and improving the parks. The 
syndicate will pay annually to the city $252,000 in license 
fees for their 70 saloons. They will sell none but the purest 

106 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



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liquors. No liquor 
will be sold minors, 
persons of known in- 
temperate habits, 
drunkards, women 
or on Sundays. No 
games will be al- 
lowed in the saloons. 
No seats or tables 
will be permitted in 
the saloons. The 
outcome of this pro- 
ject in Los Angeles 
will be eagerly 
watched by the coun- 
try at large. 

The plan has been 
carried out with 
great success in 
Gothenburg for 50 
years. After three 
AN AVENUE OF PAN PALMS, LOS days full of joy, com- 
ANGELES. fort and pleasure the 

editors left Los Angeles with keen regret early Wednesday 
morning, June 21st, for the next break in the tour at Santa 
Barbara, California, some 110 miles northwest of Los An- 
geles, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. The ride up 
that morning, with the ocean breezes fanning our cheeks, 
was delightful. On the way we passed through some of 
California's most productive oil fields, and the sight was 
interesting, but the smell of the crude oil was vile. A 

107 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

short distance from Santa Barbara, at Summerland, once a 
fashionable bathing resort, we passed the strangest oil field 
in the world, and saw out in the ocean derrick after derrick 
rising out of the waves. Just think of it ! sinking oil wells 
down through the briny deep to bring up the oil. It seemed 
an impossible enterprise, yet there were the derricks, with 
the wells underneath, flowing oil. We were told that these 
wells were very good ones, and were producing thousands 
of barrels of oil daily. The whole thing showed what ap- 
parently impossible things the Yankee can do if he hustles. 




THE HOTEL LANKERSHIM, 
LOS ANGELES. 



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CHAPTER XVI. 

SANTA BARBARA — THE INCOMPARABLE — THE NEWPORT 
OF THE PACIFIC. 

ABOUT noon our special pulled into Santa Barbara, 
the incomparable, the Newport of the Pacific Coast. 
By this time the editorial mind dwelt more on the good 
things to eat than of sight-seeing, so they rushed off to the 
palatial Potter Hotel, where an elaborate luncheon was 
served. This is one of the finest of the California resort 
hotels, and was erected at a cost of something over a mil- 
lion and half dollars. At a pinch it could accommodate 
1,600 guests. It has two immense dining rooms, each of 
which will accommodate 500 persons at a sitting. The 
Potter is situated a short distance back from the beach in 
the midst of a beautiful little park, in which are all manner 
of shrubs, bushes, palms, plants and flowers, and they have 
no less than 30,000 rose bushes that bloom all year around, 
and also 40,000 calla lilies in bloom. The hotel is inde- 
pendent of the markets. For its supplies it has a large 
ranch of its own from which comes its cream, milk, butter 
and eggs, chickens, ducks, pigeons, squabs, vegetables, etc. 
At the squab ranch they raise annually thousands of deli- 
cate, delicious squabs to tickle the palates of their guests. 
The hotel employs from 300 to 400 people continually, and 
has everything at its command and within its control for 
all the wants of its guests. Although the hotel has been 

109 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE SPANISH MISSION, SANTA BARBARA. 

Open only about three years, it has become famous, and has 
had phenomenal success. After the luncheon the Santa 
Barbara Chamber of Commerce provided carriages to take 
the visitors around the town, to the old Spanish mission and 
to drive up over the mountains to Miramar. 

The first stop was made at the Santa Barbara Mission, 
one of the quaintest and most picturesque missions on the 
coast. The mission was founded on December 4, 1786, 
by Father Fermin Lasuen, one of the Franciscan Fathers, 
and it shows but little traces of the 120 years of use. The 
walls are still staunch and strong, the red roof tiles perfect, 
and the beautiful paintings in the church are wonderfully 
fresh and well preserved. The stone steps leading into the 
church have been worn in holes by the footsteps of peni- 
tent worshipers and curious tourists. 

The work of building the mission was carefully done, 
but it was slow and tedious. The labor was done by the 

110 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

friars, assisted by the Indian converts, to whom fell the 
drudgery. The walls are of solid masonry and are from six 
to ten feet thick. The stone and timbers were prepared by 
the crudest instruments and carried for miles on the backs 
of the Indians. The mission proper is 165 feet long, 40 
feet wide and 30 feet high, and all roofed with red sun- 
burned tiles. 

The whole mission is surrounded by a 20-foot wall, 
enclosing the buildings and a large court yard, in which 
are buried many Brothers and about 5,000 Mexican and 
Indian converts. Connected with the mission is a monas- 
tery in which live about 40 of the brown-coated and bare- 
footed brothers of St. Francis, who care for the mission and 
hold services there every day in the year. It is said that 
the altar fire, which was kindled there 120 years ago by 
Father Lasuen has never been suffered to go out from that 
day to this, so zealously has its sacred flame been watched. 
The mission, since its foundation to the present time, has 
been in the control and occupancy of the Franciscan Fath- 
ers. The church, school and relic house are always open 
for visitors, and venerable monks received our party kindly 
and conducted us through the buildings, explaining every- 
thing, and even answering the most irreverent questions 
with dignity and kindness. 

The ever-present charity box is evident in all the 
buildings to receive the shekels, large and small, of the 
charitably disposed. It is true that all do not see or stop 
at these boxes. 

The most of the work on the mission buildings was 
done by converted Indians, under the direction of the fath- 
ers. It is a remarkable fact that from the opening of the 

111 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




GARDENS OF VIRGIN Y MARTYR MISSION, SANTA BARBARA 

mission to the present time there has not been a single day 
that prayers have not been offered at its altars. 

From the mission the carriages took the party up over 
a beautiful 17-mile drive, ascending and skirting the sides 
of Santa Ynes Mountains. The road turned and circled 
up the mountain like a large tortuous snake, and there 

112 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



opened up a new vista of beautiful scenery. Away below 
lay the city with its 10,000 people, encircling the bay of 
Santa Barbara, while far beyond stretched the blue waters 
of the Pacific Ocean, dotted here and there with a green 
gem of a little island. As the road descended the moun- 
tain it passed through beautiful groves of oranges and 
lemons, and most handsome private homes set in the most 
beautiful surroundings of evergeen trees, palms, tropical 
plants and terrace upon terrace of the most exquisite and 
fragrant flowers we have ever seen, all of which were kept 
fresh by irrigation with water piped down from the moun- 
tain streams. In many instances the pipes were perforated 
and run away up into the higher trees, and the simple turn- 
ing of a valve created an artificial rain, bathing and re- 
freshing the trees and shrubbery. On the way back to the 
hotel a stop was made at the beautiful home of Mr. James 
Reed, where refreshments were served and the boys given 
the freedom of the lemon and orange orchards and allowed 
to take all the fruit they wanted. On the return some of 
the boys indulged in their first dip in the Pacific Ocean a 
short distance from the hotel. 

Santa Barbara is connected with San Francisco by a 

steam ship line 



and also by the 
Coast Line Rail- 
road. In all the 
world there is 
'^^ not such a charm- 
ing situation as 
Santa Barbara. 
THE CLOISTERS, SANTA BARBARA. Mountain, valley, 

113 




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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

woods, sea and island, coupled with a climate that never 
says no to any recreation or sport; a past in history written 
in romance; a face which still betokens the soft, imaginative 
lines of its Spanish heritage. Is it any wonder that thous- 
ands of pleasure and health-seekers annually flock to its 
pleasant borders ? and as the seasons come and go its pop- 
ularity will continue to increase. 

While we were in the city thousands of Christian En- 
deavorers were gathered there for a convention, and some 
of the editors were very indignant when some of the recep- 
tion committee attempted to decorate them with C. E. 
badges. After a day full of pleasure the scribes left Santa 
Barbara about eight o'clock that evening for Monterey, 
Cahfomia. 




114 



CHAPTER XVII. 

DEL MONTE — THE SUPERBLY BEAUTIFUL — MONTEREY — 
CALIFORNIA'S FIRST CAPITAL. 

EARLY the next morning the editorial special was 
stopped at the magnificent and beautiful park sur- 
rounding the Hotel Del Monte, a few miles outside of Mont- 
erey. Arrangements had been made for the entire party to 
take breakfast at this world famous hotel, and soon the ed- 
itors were gathered around the tables, well keeping up their 
reputation as the "Eating Association." The menu was 
fine and all enjoyed it to their utmost. 

The Hotel Del Monte has been voted by world-wide 
travelers to be the most noted and most beautiful resort of 
the world, and there are none to gainsay that assertion. It 
is situated on the Bay of Monterey, one of the most beau- 
tiful and attractive bays of the world, and is about 125 
miles south of San Francisco. The immediate grounds of 
the hotel contain 126 acres, and there are several thousand 
acres adjacent that are owned by the company which owns 
the hotel. The park is a most beautiful and wonderful dis- 
play of landscape gardening. Plants, trees, flowers and 
shrubs from the uttermost parts of the earth are here. Rug- 
ged, gnarled trees centuries old are there, standing neigh- 
bors to the palm and banana tree. The entire grounds are 
strikingly picturesque and highly cultivated. Broad sweeps 
of lawns, deep splashes of floral coloring, weird shapings of 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




HOTEL DEL MONTE, DEL MONTE. 

oak and cypress trees, all delight the artistic sense. Just 
to look upon that vast stretch of natural beauty, embellished 
by man, soothes and delights the beholder. The Maze 
Walk, or Cypress Labyrinth, formed out of the California 
cypress trees, trained in all sorts of fantastic shapes, and 
planted on the lines of the old maze puzzle, gives hours of 
sport to the younger folks, who delight to beguile the un- 
wary into the maze and lose them there, and then let them 
take several hours to find their way out. 

From the hotel there is a romantic drive of 17 miles 
along the southern shores of the Monterey Bay and through 
the groves of cypress trees, some of which are estimated to 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

be 4,000 years old. The cypress trees have grown in all 
manner of grotesque forms, and two especially have so 
grown together and joined their foliage that, at a distance, 
they look like an immense ostrich. There is excellent 
bathing in the surf of the bay, and in addition the hotel has 
an immense bathing pavilion, with all the modern appli- 
ances for in-door bathing, with salt water artificially heated. 
The hotel owns a fine golf course which delights the lovers 
of the Scotch game. There is excellent fishing in the bay, 
and the finest kind of boating, as the waters are generally 
very calm and smooth. 

There are also provided a number of glass-bottomed 
boats for the purpose of viewing all the wonders of the sub- 
marine gardens, for which the Bay of Monterey is so fam- 
ous. These gardens are even more beautiful than those of 
Santa Catalina Island, for here the waters are not so deep, 
and the plants, mosses and ferns can be more clearly seen, 
and seem to have more vivid and beautiful colorings, mak- 
ing one think that some master painter has transferred the 
brighest hues from his palette upon their leaves. There 
are certainly more beautiful things hidden under the ocean 
wave than ,man has ever seen, or even conceived, in his 
most vivid imagination. 

The Hotel Del Monte is a massive and mammoth 
structure, erected in the Elizabethan style of architecture, 
and is fitted up with all the modern conveniences. The 
hotel can accommodate about 2,000 guests, and their cheap- 
est rates are six dollars per day, and as much more as you 
want to pay. Their cheapest cigars are two for a quarter, 
so the poor editors did not smoke many of them. The 
only thing that prevented the scribes from spending a full 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



month at the Del Monte was the lack of time, and, inci- 
dentally, lack of cash. 

From Del Monte our party used the trolley cars to 
visit the old town of Monterey, founded in 1603 by Sebas- 
tian Vizcaino, and Pacific Grove. At Monterey were found 
many objects of historic interest. It is one of the oldest 
towns in California, and here, on one of the principal streets, 
still stands the first frame house erected in the State. 
There is also still standing there a house that was brought 




^0-&tte:9!Stmtll$S^ 



^^^K^^^^-^^ 



THE SAN CARLUS EURROMEO MISSION, MONTEREY. 
from New York, around Cape Horn, on a sailing vessel, 
and re-built in Monterey. The first United States custom 
house on the Pacific Coast was located in Monterey. The 
Spanish Mission of San Carlos, which was founded in 1770, 
by the fearless and saintly Junipero Serra, is a picturesque 
and interesting building. It is in a wonderful state of re- 
pair, considering the fact that it is 1 36 years old. Beneath 
its altars rest the bones of Serra and the faithful brother of 
his soul, Crespi. Numerous other ancient adobe houses in 
Monterey carry one back to the days of the Spanish 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



cavaliers. To- 
day the place 
of the Spanish 
knights, with 
their glittering 
panoply of 
arms, is taken 
by the blue -^^ 
and gold of 




Uncle Sam's troops, who, 
1,200 strong, are quartered 
on a million dollar reserva- 
tion, a short distance with- 
out the city gates. 

Pacific Grove, the neigh- 
bor to Monterey, with its fine 

CYPRESS POINT AND THE GOLF LINKS, DEL MONTE. 

119 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

bathing beach, presented an alluring attraction to the dusty- 
editors, who were glad to have a dip in the briny deep. 
Pacific Grove is much like our Ocean Grove, of the Atlant- 
ic Coast, and it is the srnual meeting place of the various 
Methodist societies of California, and of the Chautauqua 
movement. It is a strictly temperance town, as not a single 
saloon is allowed within its confines. It is practically a sea 
side resort of homes, and is extremely popular, as very low 
rates are made between that place and San Francisco. 
After a short time spent in Pacific Grove, the party returned 
to Del Monte to take their train and continue the journey 
northward. The special train left Del Monte shortly be- 
fore noon, but just before the train started a host of fakirs 
gathered at the station selling the beautiful pelts of the sea 
gulls, pelicans and storks, tanned ready for use, and sea 
mosses and beautiful abalone and other curious sea shells. 
It was the first meeting of the editors with the real souvenir 
fakirs, and they were easily separated from their shekels. 
The bird pelts were really beautiful, and were sold at ex- 
tremely low prices. Next winter the editors' wives and 
sweethearts will be wearing beautiful hats decorated with 
these birds' feathers, and carrying bird muffs which would 
have cost quite a few dollars if bought at a fashionable mil- 
linery emporium in the East. Each of the editors carried 
away at least one souvenir from Del Monte, and some 
carried many. 



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CHAPTER XVIII. 

SANTA CRUZ — THE ATLANTIC CITY OF THE SUNSET STATE 
SYLVAN BREAKFAST 'NEATH THE "BIG TREES." 

THE ride around the bay to Santa Cruz was very 
pleasant and made very enjoyable by the beautiful 
views of the Bay of Monterey had from the car windows, 
and the fresh salty breezes which came up from the blue 
waters of the Pacific Ocean were most refreshing. Santa 
Cruz is situated on a beautiful little cove on the northern 
side of the Bay of Monterey, and almost directly across 
from the town of Monterey. 

Our train reached Santa Cruz late in the afternoon of 
June 2 2d, and stopped in front of the handsome Casino, on 
the water front, where we were greeted by a committee of 
the Board of Trade, with a full brass band playing, "Lo, 
the conquering hero comes." The greeting was a royal 
one, but as the editors had fasted long hours they excused 
themselves while they went into the Casino restaurant to 
refresh the inner man. 

After the late dinner, or lunch, the editors spent the 
remainder of the afternoon as their various tastes dictated, 
though most of them availed themselves of the opportunity 
to sport with Neptune in the briny deep, and, incidentally, 
flirt with the fair California damsels who crowded both the 
beach and the surf. 

Santa Cruz is the Atlantic City of the Pacific Ocean 

121 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

coast, and is crowded with people during the entire season. 
It was unusually crowded when we were there, as the peo- 
ple of that city and section, both old and young, had deter- 
mined to show the editors a great time. As subsequent 
events developed they certainly did it to the queen's taste. 
The city is undoubtedly the most popular place of resort on 
the Pacific Coast, by reason of its fine bathing beach, fish- 
ing and all manner of summer sports. The town has 
plenty of hotels and boarding houses of all kinds and con- 
ditions, and in addition an enterprising corporation has 
built a large "City of Tents," with modern conveniences and 
baths on the grounds; pure water, a good restaurant and 
fine sanitary arrangements, which they let out a moderate 
rental to the summer visitors. The city is full of life and 
they advertise "Not a dull moment from May 20th to Oc- 
tober 1st." Three band concerts daily. Dance at the 
Casino every evening. Plunge baths, hot baths, surf bath- 
ing, fishing, boating, excursions on the Bay, picnics at the 
"Big Trees," vaudeville, fireworks, electrical displays, 
aquatic sports — variety enough to please all people. The 
Bay of Monterey, at Santa Cruz, on account of the placid 
waters and the great varieties and vast numbers of fish in 
it, make it by long odds the best fishing place on the 
coast. 

Here are found "the royal king salmon," steel heads, 
sea bass, sea trout and numerous other varieties of large 
and gamey fish. In one morning's sport an expert fisher- 
man caught 32 king salmon, none of which weighed less 
10 pounds. 

Back of Santa Cruz stands a high mountain range pro- 
tecting it from the heat of the valleys beyond, thus giving 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the city a very equable and pleasant climate throughout 
the entire year. There are no snows and no extremes of 
cold and heat. 

The city is progressive, and forging ahead rapidly 
under the impetus given it through its Board of Trade and 
energetic citizens. Mr. H. R. Judah, the genial Secretary 
of the Board of Trade, is a hustler of the first water, and 
knows how, in a few minutes, to impress upon you all the 
merits and good points of Santa Cruz ( there are no bad 
points ) and make you believe the city is the beau ideal of 
all spots on the Pacific Coast. After Mr. Secretary has 
started ball rolling, there is Joe Horn, that whole-souled 
and jolly good fellow, who once called Pittsburg home, and 
a host of other good fellows, like the Robison boys, and 
others, to keep the push going. We remember them all 
most kindly. In fact, all the men we met were hustlers — 
even mine host of the Casino, though he was a trifle slow 
in serving our hungry host. 

Each man in the town seems to have constituted him- 
self a Santa Cruz boomer. Well, they have a good thing, 
and we do not blame them for booming it. Their efforts 
are being crowned with success, for the town, which ha.d a 
population of 5,665 in 1900, to-day has about 13,000 peo- 
ple, a gain of over 100 per cent, in five years. The people 
of Santa Cruz pride themselves on the grapes raised in 
their county, and also on the vintage that comes from them, 
especially the Cresta Blanca brand. Their grapes are 
noted as the finest table grapes grown on the coast. And 
here is the home of the fomous Loganberry. 

The gardens of the city were, indeed, "bowers of 
roses." So many and grandly beautiful were those flowers 

123 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

and the beautiful calla lilies, and sweet-scented heliotrope 
grow there in the most luxuriant and bewildering profusion. 
There is no difficulty there in making even the sweetest of 
flowers grow out doors, and the rich and poor alike can 
have their beautiful flowers in unlimited quantities. 

All these things the editors saw as they were whirled 
through the city on the trolleys. Returning from the ride 
we enjoyed a brief siesta in our cars, then took supper and 
adjourned to the Casnio where we were given a brilliant re- 
ception by the Board of Trade and people of the city. The 
reception was followed by a fine band concert, which, in 
turn, was followed by a beautiful special display of fire 
works out on the water, after which followed a complimen- 
tary ball for the editors in the Casino ball room, at which 
the young editors, and some of the old ones, danced with 
the pretty girls until they were compelled to stop from sheer 
exhaustion. The music was furnished by an orchestra 
composed of swarthy native Hawaiians, who played entirely 
on guitars and other stringed instruments, their national 
airs. Many of their selections were strange and weird, and 
to others they sang sweet-sounding songs in their native 
tongue, which no one understood, but which gave a pleas- 
ing effect to their music. This was a catchy innovation in 
the musical program, which was enjoyed both by the dan- 
cers and the "wall flowers." The ball broke up at a late 
hour and the party returned to their cars for the night. 

We turned out early Thursday morning, June 23d, 
for we were to be the guests of the Santa Cruz Board of 
Trade at breakfast at the "Big Trees" grove, five miles 
distant from the city, up the mountain, on a narrow guage 
railroad. As our party was so large, and the railroad did 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

not have enough cars to carry us all up at once, it was 
arranged that half our number should go up by rail and 
the others drive up in carriages, and exchange methods of 
conveyance on the return trip. All the public conveyances 
of the city and most of the private carriages were pressed 
into use for the editors. The carriage contingent started 
off amid the huzzas of their friends, a considerable length 
of time in advance of the narrow guage train. The day 
was bright and beautiful and the ocean was sending in 
fresh salty breezes which were most exhilerating, causing 
many of the boys to fish their overcoats out from under- 
neath the berths. The Pennsylvania delegation was for- 
tunate in being selected among the contingent to go up the 
mountain by train. The morning was all that could be 
desired for a mountain climb, even on the cars. The air 
was fresh and clear, and the surrounding country, in all its 
natural beauty, stood out with wonderful vividness. The 
train was a long one and was hauled by two locomotives of 
great power. The road, as it leaves the city, first passes 
through the rich, cultivated fields, then come the vineyards, 
with their vines burdened with rich and beautiful clusters 
of grapes; then follow the foothills, and, last of all, looms 
up the rugged mountain, with its deep gorges and rocky 
chasms, with the turbulent and silvery brook singing as it 
dashes down over the rocks and huge boulders to lose it- 
self in the deep and mighty ocean below. Everything 
combines to make a picture of rare beauty and grandeur — 
one which makes a lasting impression on the beholder. 

As the train ascended the mountain, rushing every 
few minutes through a dark tunnel, the grade became 
steeper and the gorges deeper and more picturesque. The 

125 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

train sped from side to side of the deep chasms presenting 
a new and entrancing view each minute. The greys and 
browns of the rocks, the blue of the sky and the greens of 
trees, with the silvery gleams of the roaring brook, com- 
bined to make a picture of entrancing beauty. 

In a short time it was noticed that the trees seemed to 
grow larger and taller, and we realized that we were near- 
ing our destination. A little later the train halted and the 
conductor called out for the "Big Trees." Out we tumbled 
in short order, then stopped short, as we realized we were 
in the presence of those mighty monarchs of the forest 
of which we had heard so much from our youth up. The 
trees are something like the fir or redwood, and are 
an evergreen, with most of their branches near the tops of 
their mighty trunks. This is the largest grove in the world 
of the sequoia sempervirens tree, as the botanists classify 
it. The Santa Cruz grove contains many thousands of these 
trees, and has over one hundred of these giants — the largest 
and tallest in the world — ranging from 30 to over 100 feet 
in circumference, with a height of from 250 to 365 feet, the 
tallest being over 5,000 years old. Could they but talk, 
what wonderful stories they could relate. This grove is 
also rich in historical interest, for it was here General John 
C. Fremont made his headquarters in the early days of 
California's struggle for independence from Mexico. 

In the winter of 1846, on his way from San Francisco 
to Monterey, General Fremont, with his escort, camped in 
the hollow of the tree which now bears his name. The 
tree is 61 feet in circumference and 280 feet high. In this 
tree, which is still living and green, there is a large hollow 
into which over 50 of our party walked and stood at the 

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same time. In addition to the large hole, which serves as 
a door, General Fremont had another hole cut higher up 
for the escape of the smoke from their camp fire. 

Here, it is interesting to relate, that locked up in the 
vault of one of the banks of Redding, California, is a flag 
that is second in historic importance to Californians only to 
the Bear flag that is jealously guarded by Pacific Coast 
pioneers. The flag referred to is the one that General Fre- 
mont unfurled from the summit of the Rocky Mountains in 
1841, when he and his small party were on their way to 
Cahfomia, before the Mexican war. The banner is the 
property of P. M. Reardon, managing director of the Bully 
Bill mine at Delamar. It was given to him a few years 
ago by Mrs. Fremont herself. It was made by her own 
hands on the eve of her husband's path-finding expedition 
to the West. The flag differs from the ordinary emblem 
only in the field, on which is wrought a large American 
eagle, done in embroidery of great delicacy and beauty. 
About the eagle are clustered the 26 stars that in 1841 rep- 
resented the States in the Union. On the reverse side of 
the flag is pinned a silk scarf bearing the inscription in 
golden letters: "Rocky Mountains in 1841." The banner 
is in a fairly good state of preservation, considering its age. 

The principal trees have been named after some nation- 
al heros and great men. One of the first named trees that 
our party met was a stalwart monarch called Pennsylvania. 
The boys were delighted, and gathering around that tree 
gave hearty cheers for Pennsylvania, for the tree and for 
home. There was no other tree in the grove bearing a 
state name. A jolly scribe of our party from Illinois search- 
ed in vain to find a tree Christened after his native state. 

127 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Disgusted at his ili-luck, he took his visiting card and 
pinned it to a baby sequoia sempervirens, then poetised in 
the following strain: 

You demed little runt, hold up your snoot; 

Don't be so shy and cry; 
I want you to root, and root, and root, 

For the State of Illinois. 

Get a move on quick, them climb and climb; 

Don't be a minute late, 
Or you will have one deuce of a time 

In catching the Keystone State. 

General Grant visited the grove in 1879, on his return 
home from his tour of the world, and a mighty giant 60 
feet in circumference and 325 feet high now bears his name. 
There are also trees named after Presidents Harrison, Mc- 
Kinely and Roosevelt, all of whom have visited the grove. 
The "President Harrison" is 65 feet in circumference, "Old 
Glory" has a spread of 100 feet, "General Sherman" has a 
girth of 65 feet, the "Giant" with a circumference of 65 
feet and a height of 381 feet, was the lord of the forest; 
"Jumbo" has a waist band of 52 feet and rears its head 
290 feet in th air. Then there is the "driveway tree," 
with a circumference of 84 feet and a diameter of 28 feet, 
through which has been cut a driveway, and a coach-and- 
four can pass through with ease, stop the coach and horses 
and be wholly within the tree. 

Among the remarkable and curiously formed trees is 
the "Cathedral," so named by Robert G. Ingersoll on his 
visit to the grove. The "Cathedral" has a solid tree base 
(the largest in the world) of 110 feet circumference, from 
which springs 22 trees, the tallest of which is nearly 300 

128 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

feet. The "Young Men's Christian Association" tree is 
another wonderful one, of similar growth to the "Cathe- 
dral," and is almost as large. These trees grow from the 
roots of fallen trees, and from seeds no larger than mustard 
seed. Mere figures and statements, however strong, will 
fail to impress the reader with the grandeur and magni- 
tude of these wonderful monarchs of the forest. Their 
great size and magnificence are beyond description, and 
their ages run far beyond the earliest days of profane his- 
tory. The day of their birth was long b)efore the days of 
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise. Such wonders 
of the Almighty's creation must be seen side by side, face 
to face, to be appreciated and understood. 

After we had exhausted the wonders of this forest, we 
were led to an adjacent part of the grove, where the Santa 
Cruz Board of Trade and their beautiful and accomplished 
young lady aids had spread large tables groaning under a 
bountiful supply of meats, fruits, wines and all manner of 
good things for our breakfast. The tables were prettily 
decorated with beautiful and fragrant flowers in most gen- 
erous profusion. By this time every one had a keen appe- 
tite, sharpened by the mountain air and several hours of fast- 
ing, so it did not need a second invitation to get the hungry 
editors to the tables, forget the war of words and start to 
devour the good things which had been provided for the 
"Bull's Head Breakfast." The graceful waiters were kept 
on the wing to provide for their hungry guests, but with an 
enormous supply of eatables and drinkables, every one was 
filled and satisfied to the utmost limit. This breakfast, 
with its unique and romantic surroundings, the palatable 
and bountiful supply of food, the fragrant flowers and 

129 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

choice vintage, with the weird and sweet melodies rendered 
by the Hawaiian orchestra, and the beautiful and graceful 
waitresses, was a great success — an event that will linger 
long in the memories of the participants. 

The wines served at the sylvan breakfast were of the 
most choice of California vintage, among which was the 
famous Cresta Blanca brand. 

The manufacture of red and white wines is one of 
California's greatest industries, and is carried on on a scale 
of great magnitude, giving employment to thousands of 
persons. The California wines of all grades are fast be- 
coming famous the world over, and are in close competition 
with the vintages of Germany, France and Italy; and by 
many experts are thought to excel the wines of those coun- 
tries in both boquet and body. 

In order to care for the large quantities of wine made 
annually, the grape growers have built immense storage 
tanks and curing cellars throughout the State. At St. 
Helena is the largest surface stone wine cellar in the world. 
That mighty building is 300 feet long, 100 deep, four 
stories high, with several tunnels extending far back into 
hillside and has a capacity of 3,000,000 gallons. 

At Asti, in Sonoma County, is what is claimed to be 
the largest wine tank in the universe, containing 500,000 
gallons ot wine, and is several hundred times larger than 
the famous wine tank of Heidelberg Castle, Germany, 
which was built to hold sufficient wine for a three months' 
siege of that fortress. The Asti tank was built with con- 
crete walls two feet thick, hermetically sealed, and required 
45 days and nights, with the work of 50 men and 25 teams 
to build it. It required two steam pumps seven da^^s to 

130 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

pump the wine from that tank into smaller tanks. After the 
After the tank was emptied 200 ladies and gentlemen from 
San Francisco, on invitation of the company, held a dance 
in the tank — the first affair of the kind in history — and it 
was said to have been a very great success. 




THE BEACH SPEEDWAY, SANTA CRUZ. 

At the conclusion of the repast it was near noon, and 
the train soon started on the return trip to Santa Cruz. 
When we reached our special train a most pleasing sight 
met our eyes. During our absence the ladies of Santa 
Cruz had transformed each of our ten cars into a beautiful 
bower of exquisite flowers. Each car was decorated with a 
different flower — some had roses, some lilies, others carna- 
tions, verbenas, geraniums, poppies, marguerites and orange 
blossoms. The Pennsylvania car was decorated with gar- 
lands of smilax and beautiful sweet peas of every imagina- 

131 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

ble shade of color, and was by all odds the most beautiful 
and unique of the train. Cheer after cheer was given for 
the beautiful ladies and their beautiful flowers, and for the 
Board of Trade, who had so handsomely entertained us, 
and the editorial special pulled out of Santa Cruz at one 
o'clock bound for San Francisco. 




€~ 



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■ JA j^ARQUE K0SE5U5H Cesider.t'e oj i<|ias,Annette fl 







SOME FLOWER EMBOWERED HOMES, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE NILE-LIKE VALLEYS — STANFORD UNIVERSITY — 
SANTA CLARA MISSION — SAN JOSE. 

AS the train sped northward from Santa Cruz it entered 
one of the most fertile and richest valleys in the world; 
a valley which, on account of the wealth and depth of its 
soil, has been likened to the famous Valley of the Nile. On 
all sides were large ranches whose fields were burdened 
with most prolific crops, and orchard followed orchard in 
quick succession, laden with their burdens of luscious fruit 
of all kinds. Here and there were seen flower ranches of 
matchless beauty. At one ranch sweet peas were raised in 
great profusion, and for half a mile or more a field of these 
beautiful flowers lined the track. These sweet peas were 
the most beautiful we ever saw, being of every known shade 
and color. Each shade or color was planted by itself in 
long divisions about 50 feet wide, making the field look 
like a mammoth floral flag. We longed to have the train 
stop that we might alight and fill our arms with the beauti- 
ful blooms, but as the train was behind time we were not 
permitted that pleasure. 

As passed along, a considerable distance to the east of 
us, was seen the famous Lick Observatory crowning the 
summit of Mount Hamilton. There, at an altitude of 4,440 
feet, the trustees of James Lick, an eccentric millionaire of 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE LICK OBSERVATORY, MT. HAMILTON. 
San Francisco, erected that observator}^ at a cost of $700,- 
000. At the time of its erection the telescope was the lar- 
gest and most famous in the world. Its lens was made by 
Abram Clark and is three feet in diameter. The erection 
of the telescope gave a new impetus to the study of astron- 
omy and by its aid many new stars and planets were dis- 
covered. 

From Mayfield station could be seen the magnificent 
structures of the Leland Stanford Junior University, which 
was erected a few years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stan- 
ford as a memorial to their son, and given a princely en- 
dowment of $30,000,000 and 100,000 acres of land. 

This university has secured an international reputa- 
tion, and is the most richly endowed university in the 
world. It is destined under its progressive management to 
do great things. A short distance from Palo Alto, the 

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VIEWS OF SANTA CLARA VALLEY, NEAR SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR .WEST. 

seat of the University, is the quaint old town of Santa 
Clara, where are located the Santa Clara Mission and Col- 
lege, the oldest institution of learning on the Pacific Coast. 
This Mission was established by the vigorous Spanish 
Padres in the year 1777. Here, growing in the old Mis- 
sion garden may be seen the olive and palm trees planted by 
those faithful religious workers of long ago. The frescoes 
and paintings, owing to the dryness of the climate, have 
been preserved well nigh in their original beauty and fresh- 
ness. From the Mission to San Jose ( pronounced Hosay ) 
are double lines of ancient willows, planted by the same 
padres, to afford them shade while walking from their re- 
treat to the hacienda of San Jose. Our train made a very 
short stop at San Jose, so that but little of that interesting 




THE ENTRANCE TO STANFORD UNIVERSITY, PALO ALTO. 

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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE COURT HOUSE AND HALL OF RECORDS, SAN JOSE 
town was seen, but what little was seen was interesting and 
pleasing. It is a model city, and has a fine system of elec- 
tric street railways, electric light, gas plant, sewers and the 
purest water piped from the distant mountains to the city. 
Its public buildings are models of municipal architecture, 
and its large parks are places of beauty and pleasure. The 
country surrounding San Jose is a great fruit producing 
territory, and olives, prunes, apricots, pears and peaches 
grow in great abundance and in great perfection. This 
fruit is carefully packed and shipped in refrigerator cars to 
supply the markets of the East, and even to England. 

San Jose, 40 miles south of San Francisco, is a city 
of about 40,000 people, built upon almost level, elevated 
floor, 87 feet above sea. The 20 square miles of city are 
beautiful, with broad avenues and shady walks. The city 
is half enveloped and wholly adorned with a great wealth of 
trees, shrubs and flowers, chiefly semi-tropic. San Jose is 
the rose garden of the earth. At least 165 varieties make 

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SAINTE CLAIRE CLUB HOUSE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE CITY HALL PARK, SAN JOSE. 



yards beautiful or climb up over the housetops. Trees 
reach perfection. Palms, magnolias, oranges, peppers, 
grevilleas, acacias, cypress, pines, eucalypti and other ever- 
green growths, intermingle with oaks, maples, sycamores, 
elms, poplars, alder, willow, ash, etc. 

In the center of this city of parks, lawns and gardens 
is the business area, the handsomest and most impressive 
series of business blocks in all the smaller cities of the 
West. Blocks of stone and brick, two to six stories high, 
line well-paved streets. 

The public buildings include the finest postof^ce the 
Government owns. The county court house and hall of 
records, the high school, State normal school, public library, 

137 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



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Mi 












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4 


1 


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SOME BEAUTIFUL HOMES, SAN JOSE. 

the city hall, are noteworthy. The public school buildings 
of San Jose and immediate suburbs are valued at $500,000. 
The hotels are fitting to what is fast becoming one of the 
greatest resort city in California. 

The city's park system is comprehensive and beauti- 
ful. Almost in the heart of the city is St. James Park, 
with a greater variety of trees than any other park in the 
United States. The pride of San Jose, however, is the 
city's Alum Rock Canyon Park, unequaled in the State. 
This is a canyon playground of 1,000 acres, seven miles 
east of town, in the Coast Mountains, reached by an elec- 
tric railway. Here are 16 mineral springs. The different 

138 




PAMOUS ALUM ROCK PARK, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

waters are on exhibition in the Santa Clara County exhibit, 
Agricultural Building. Through the park flows an ever- 
living stream, lined with trees. The city has here fine 
plunge and tub baths, restaurant, a deer paddock, aviary 
and romantic walks and drives. 

The Santa Clara Valley was settled by Franciscan friars 
under Father Junipero Serra in 1777. Two of the Mis- 
sions, Santa Clara and San Jose, are within its Hmits. The 
valley is a park, originally dotted with magnificent oaks. 
North to south, within the county, it is 50 miles long, 
with a maximum width at the north end of 25 miles. The 
mountains eastward, the inner Coast Range, rise 4,000 feet. 
Westward is the Coast Range, 4,000 feet high, and from 




HARVESTING THE ONION SEED, SANTA CLARA VALLEY. 

139 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

its crest are visible, on one hand, the Pacific Ocean and on 
the other the Santa Clara Valley, with its 10,000 homes 
gleaming white amid the trees. Mountain streams cut little 
ravines through the valley floor and glide into San Fran- 
cisco Bay, where the valley flares out into the salt water. 

The Santa Clara Valley has a net-work of Southern 
Pacific Railroad tracks, the city of San Jose radiating lines 
of that company in seven directions — to Los Angeles, San 
Francisco, Alameda, Oakland, Santa Cruz and the ocean 
and two routes to New Amalden. 

A native poetess of California has sung of the State's 
great natural wealth of soil and minerals in the following 
well-balanced sonnet: 

If you will delve beneath the sod. 
Rich gifts you'll find, stored up by God, 
In mountain cellars, hid from view. 
When time was young and earth was new. 
And flowing fortunes in our soil. 
Are fountains, geysers, wells of oil. 
Our myriad miles of golden grain 
Ripple and wave like ocean's main. 
And joyous here the bird that flies 
'Neath ever-blue Italian skies. 



140 






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CHAPTER XX. 

SAN FRANCISCO — THE QUEEN OF THE GOLDEN 
GATE. 

LEAVING San Jose the train moved rapidly through 
the smaller towns, and in a few hours we were in sight 
of the city of the Golden Gate — ^San Francisco. A few 
minutes later the train rolled into the great shed at the depot. 
We alighted to find ourselves, at last, in the city of our 
dreams, and the place of so many golden stories. 

Special trolley cars were waiting to carry the entire 
party to the magnificent Hotel St. Francis, where arrange- 
ments had been made to entertain all of us during our stay 
in the city, and where we were comfortably and safely 
housed. It was with feelings of awe and wonder that many 
of us saw the golden sun sink to its rest ,that night beixeath 
the rippling waves of the Pacific Ocean. A few weeks 
before we had seen the same sun arise in all its glory from 
the briny waters of the Atlantic, and now we saw it vanish 
from our view into the bosom of the Pacific, seemingly lost 
forever. 

San Francisco, the most wonderful and powerful city 
on the Pacific Coast, took its name from a modest, but 
valiant man — St. Francis D'Asis, the founder of the order 
of Franciscan monks, whose Spanish name was San Fran- 
cisco. He was an intense lover of nature, and a poet of 

141 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE HOTEL ST. FRANCIS. 

rare ability. It was from him the Itahan poet Dante is 
said to have received much of his inspiration, and when the 
town was founded in its beautiful surroundings the old 
monk's followers very appropriately christened it with their 
master's name. 

Here it was that the advance guard of those brave 
brown-coweled, befrocked, engirdled and sandal-shod Span- 
ish padres, who had journeyed along the El Camino Real 
( the King's Highway ) carrying their crucifixes and bear- 
ing the banner of Missions, halted on October 9th, 1776, 
and founded the Mission of de Los Dolores de Nuestra Pa- 
dre San Francisco de Asis, in memory of the sorrows of the 

142 




\. 




THE DOLORES MISSION, SAN FRANCISCO, FOUNDED 1796, 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

sainted founder of their order. The Mission, with its red- 
tiled roof, its massive walls, its thong-tied rafters and 
beams, was carefully and strongly built, and still stands in 
a state of remarkable preservation, considering its- age of 
more than 130 years. In time this structure came to be 
called the Mission Dolores, and so it is kown to this day. 
The romance of its foundation still clings about it, but Mts 
service is discontinued; the officiating friars are dead, its 
campo sanato has fallen into neglect, and weeds and briars 
have taken the places of the beautiful flowers. Near by 
stands a magnificent cathedral of lordly proportions, entire- 
ly overshadowing this pathetic relic of the noble and heroic 
past. 

Those monks are entitled to a large mede of praise, 
for it was their bravery and daring that opened up all that 
glorious country for future generations. Alone and unaid- 
ed they penetrated the wilderness, preceding civilization 
and blazing the trail for future settlers. By their kind and 
gentle conduct they won the confidence and made fast 
friends of the aborigines. For their sakes the Indians look- 
ed with kindness and fearlessness upon the advent of their 
pale-face brethren. A little more than 50 years ago San 
Francisco was little more than a sandhill settlement. To- 
day she stands as a magnificent queen within the Golden 
Gate, with well nigh 500,000 devout partizans surrounding 
her throne. Of her Brete Harte said: 

Serene, indifferent to her fate, 
Thou sittest at the Western Gate. 

Since these words were penned, the Queen has waved 
her sceptre, wonderful changes have been wrought, and San 

143 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE LOBBY, HOTEL ST. FRANCIS. 

Francisco has become the metropoHs of the west — metro- 
poHtan in its character, with representatives of all the na- 
tions of the world within its doors. In its harbors fly the 
flags of all nations, and from its docks sail ships to the 
islands of the sea and the uttermost parts of the earth, bear- 
ing burdens of precious lives and the produce of the world. 
The situation of San Francisco is beautiful and ideal. On 
one side are the waves of the limitless and beautiful Pacific 
Ocean; on the other the extensive waters of the land-locked 
San Francisco Bay, the greatest and safest harbor in the 
world, where could be sheltered at one time the war fleets 
of the entire world safe and secure from their foes. The 
bay, with its dark blue waters dotted with islands, with 

144 




THE JAPANESE TEA GARDEN, GOLDEN GATE PARK. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

green, wooded and undulating shores, make a unique and 
beautiful setting for the gem — the City of the Golden Gate. 
Here is a beauty, unique in its character, that has no exact 
duplicate in the world. Barring aged ruins and historical 
castles, it far surpasses anything contained in what we are 
pleased to call the Old World. 

Of this gem of the Pacific Coast that noted English 
writer, James Bryce has said: 

"Few cities in the world can vie with San Francisco, 
either in the beauty or in the natural advantages of her sit- 
uation. Indeed, there are only two places in Europe — 
Constantinople and Gibralter — that combine an equally 
perfect landscape, with what may be called an equally im- 
perial position. Before you there is a magnificent bay, 
with its far-reaching arms and rocky isles, and beyond the 
faint line of the Sierra Nevada Mountains cutting the clear 
air like mother-of-pearl; between the mountains through 
which ships bear in commerce from the furthest shores of 
the Pacific; to the right, valleys rich with corn and wine, 
sweeping away to the southern horizon. The city itself is 
full of bald hills, rising steeply from the deep water. The 
air is keen, dry and bright, like the air of Greece, and the 
waters not less blue. Perhaps it is the air and light, re- 
calling the cities of the Mediterranean, that make one in- 
voluntarily look up to the tops of these hills for the feudal 
castle, or the ruins of the Acropolis, which one thinks must 
crown them." 

It has been said that nowhere else will you see, at 
one time, so many tall ships as here come from around the 
Horn, from China, from Sidney, from the Indies, but marked 
amid that crowd of deep-sea giants is another class of craft — 

145 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE LIBRARY, HOTEL ST. FRANCIS. 



the island schooner, low in the water, with lofty spars and 
dainty lines, rigged and fashioned like a yacht, manned 
with brown-skinned, soft-spoken, sweet-eyed native sailors, 
and equipped with their great double-ender boats that tell 
the tale of boisterous sea beaches. 

The honor of discovering San Francisco Bay fell to 
the lot of Gaspar de Portola, on November 7th, 1769. It, 
however, remained for the gallant and valiant Lieutenant 
Juan de Ayala, in August, 1775, to sail through the Golden 
Gate into that perfect land-locked harbor of San Francisco 
Bay, spread its fame to the world and make it the pride of 
navigators from that day henceforth. The magnitude of 

146 




THE ITALIAN QUARTER — MAKE THEIR OWN CLARET, 
SAN FRANCISCO. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the bay may be understood when we tell that it is 40 miles 
long and 6 miles across. The entrance to the bay is 
through the Golden Gate, a rocky, cliff -lined strait, 5 miles 
long and a mile wide in its narrowest part. 

The United States, recognizing the value of San Fran- 
cisco Bay, and the importance of the Golden Gate strait, 
have, at great expense, fortified it with the most modern 
ordinance, making it the best defended harbor entrance in 
the Nation. On the bay are located the Mare Island navy 
yard and the Union Iron Works, where Uncle Sam's finest 
cruisers are built and repaired. It was at the Union Iron 
Works that the cruiser Oregon was built, which, with Cap- 
tain Clark in command, made such a fast run from San 
Francisco around Cape Horn, and arrived off the coast of 
Cuba in time to win fame and aid Admiral Schley in 
sending Admiral Cervera's Spanish fleet to Davy Jones' 
locker during the late Spanish-American war. 

There, at the edge of the bay stands the Presidio, 
Uncle Sam's crack military post of the Pacific Coast. Here 
is always quartered a large garrison of foot soldiers and 
artillery, and since we have owned the Phillipine Islands it 
has become the out-fitting post for that field of service. 

Clustering around San Francisco Bay like beautiful 
gems in the queen's crown, are the pretty towns of Oakland, 
Alameda, San Rafael, Belvedere, Sausalito, San Mateo and 
others, giving the business men of San Francisco all the 
delights of suburban residence, with quick and frequent 
ferry and train service to the city. 

The population of San Francisco, like every other 
metropolitan city, is very cosmopolitan in its character. 
Here are found some of all nations, and, after the Ameri- 

147 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

cans in the largest number, come the Asiatics, there being 
about 40,000 Chinamen in the city. It is estimated that 
there are also over 10,000 Japanese in the city. The ma- 
jority of the Chinese are house-servants, though they are 
found in all trades and professions, except that of lawyers. 
They also conduct large wholesale and retail dry goods 
stores. They publish two highly creditable daily newspa- 
pers in their own Ian gu ape. The Chinese dwell in a sepa- 
rate section of the city called Chinatown. 

San Francisco has among its population many million- 
aires, among whom are the Stanfords, Hopkinses, Crockers, 
Spreckles and others. Their magnificent and stately pal- 
aces crown the summit of that portion of the city called 
Nob's Hill. There are but few of the very poor within the 
city limits, for there is plenty of work for all who desire to 
labor, and none need go hungry or shelterless. The city 
has many large and diversified manufactories, making al- 
most anything from a cracker at 10 cents a pound to a power- 
ful and death-dealing man-of-war costing several milhon 
dollars. The manufactures of San Francisco last year ran 
near $100,000,000. The stores are large and fine, and the 
line of goods as choice and extensive as can be found in 
any eastern emporium. The store buildings are high, mas- 
sive and of imposing appearance, built of stone, brick and 
steel. The bank clearances of San Francisco last year 
amounted well on to the great sum of $2,000,000,000. 

The streets are wide; clean, finely paved, well lighted 
and well policed. The street car lines are among the finest 
in the world, and their equipment and operation by electric- 
ity and cables are models of excellence. Through the 
streets and up and down the steep hills the trolleys and ca- 

148 




THE ORIENTIAL STREET VENDERS, CHINATOWN, 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

bles run with an ease, evenness and precision that might 
well be copied in the East. You can go all over the city 
by means of the admirable system of exchanges for the ex- 
penditure of a single nickel. The five-cent-fare might well 
be adopted by many railways in the East to the satisfaction 
of the people. 

San Francisco is distinctly a city of homes, but there 
are many eastern-like apartment flats, where many families 
live, do light-housekeeping and dine out in the most ad- 
mirable system of restaurants scattered throughout the city. 
The people can live there as comfortably and as cheaply as 
in any other part of our great country. 

The city has one of the greatest parks in the world, 
called the Golden Gate Park. It is truly beautiful and ex- 
tensive, being three and one-half miles long,. Within its 
borders are 1,013 acres valued at $15,000,000. It is a 
wonderful pleasure ground of beautiful flowers, majestic 
trees, rare shrubs, green and rolling lawns, broad drives, 
winding walks and various opportunities for recreation of all 
sorts. With the aid of nature, the billowy waters and 
skilled landscape artists, the city has formed and fashioned 
a park of wonderous beauty. In addition to the Golden 
Gate Park, there is grand private park which has become 
as famous as San Francisco herself; that is Sutro Park, 
where the Cliff House is located. This unique and beauti- 
ful park was projected, planned and planted by an eccentric 
millionaire, Adolph Sutro. The park is filled with rare 
botanical specimens and adorned with the most beautiful 
and charming tropical flowers, plants and trees, while scat- 
tered through the grounds are fine statues of all the graceful 
goddesses and gods known to Greek and Roman mythol- 

149 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE CLIFF HOUSE AND BATHING BEACH. 

ogy. This park, with all its beauty of form, arrangement 
and color, has been thrown open by its owners to the free 
inspection of the public. It is situated on Sutro Heights, 
just outside the city limits, on a large and imposing rocky 
cliff overlooking the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, 
which beat with an angry roar against the rocks at its base. 
Just outside the park limits, on the highest rock, overlook- 
ing the turbulent waves, is built the Cliff House, famous 
the world over, where the city people gather for a social 
outing and the baths. Adjoining the Cliff House are the 
celebrated Sutro Baths, which are well worth a visit, for 
they are the largest and most magnificent in the world, and 
are planned with an eye to beauty and utility. They far 
surpass in both beauty and size the famous and sumptuous 

150 




STRANGE CRAFT OF ALL NATIONS ARE SEEN IN 
SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

marble baths of Caracalla, of Diocletian and of Titus, 
whose ruins in Rome continue to excite the wonder and 
admiration of the civilized world. Here are hot and cold 
baths, tub and plunge baths. In the Sutro Baths are sev- 
eral bathing tanks varying in size from the smallest to the 
large magnificent swimming pool, with accommodations for 
2,000 swimmers, and all are filled with constantly changing 
heated sea water. There is also surf bathing in the summer. 

Out in the ocean, a short distance from the beach, 
three immense, formidable and rugged rocks, called the 
Seal Rocks, rise sheer out of the ocean waves. Here on 
bright days hundreds of seals, "bulls" and "cows" and 
their young, can be seen, either sporting in the waves or 
lazily sunning themselves on the sides of the rocks. A 
visit to San Francisco would be incomplete unless one had 
seen the Seal Rocks and the seals and sealets. 

Everywhere that one turns in the city there is some- 
thing to please and admire. The beauty, strength and 
activity of the city are seen on every side. With the num- 
erous steamship lines sailing out to all the principal ports of 
the world, and many trans-continental steam railroad lines 
reaching her doors from the east, San Francisco can easily 
maintain her supremacy as a first-class sea port. Of the 
trans-continental lines reaching the city, the chief and most 
important are the Southern Pacific, the Central Pacific and 
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe routes. An idea of 
the wealth of the city may be gained from the fact that the 
assessed valuation of 'her property closely approximates 
$500,000,000, and the real value is placed by some at 
three times these figures. San Francisco has more million- 
aires in accordance with her population than any other city 

151 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

in our country. The city is full of clubs. It has its ex- 
clusive Union League, its Merchants' Club, University, 
San Francisco, Lawyers' Club, Cosmos, Art Club, Bohem- 
ian, Olympic and Concordia, suiting all tastes an inclinations. 
The social and religious side of San Francisco is on a par 
with the other great cities of the country, and here are 
churches of all denominations, even including a place of 
worship for the Buddist and Joss Houses for the heathen 
Chinese. There are five daily newspapers printed in the 
Enghsh language, viz: The Examiner, Call, Post, Chron- 
ical and Bulletin. There are 12 first-class theatres, nine 
public libraries and five museums — the Academy of Scien- 
ces, the State Mining Bureau, the State Board of Trade, the 
Pacific Commercial Museum and the Alaska Museum. 
Here are many fine opportunities for the wide-awake and 
alert citizen, male and female, to make fortunes if their en- 
ergy and industry are rightly applied. The city, in the 
number and size of its palatial hotels and fine restaurants, 
is not excelled by any city in the East. There are hund- 
reds of first-class restaurants of all kinds scattered through- 
out the city, to suit all peoples. There are the American, 
English, Italian, French, German, Mexican, Austrian, 
Swiss, Swedish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. You 
can take your choice and dine cheaply, or you can go to 
the swell cafe and spend just as much as you desire. 

Among the most potent factors in promoting and ad- 
vancing the city's interest and substantial progress is the 
California Promotion Committee of San Francisco. This 
committee is composed of well-known, able and public 
spirited citizens, who give their services gratuitously. At 
their head stands Andrea Sharboro, the chairman, a man of 

152 




THE SENTINEL OF THE TONG— HIGHBINDERS, 
CHINATOWN, SAN FRANCISCO. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

wide experience and liberal views. The efforts of this com- 
mittee are supplemented and ably seconded by the Cham- 
ber of Commerce and kindred organizations of the city. 
This Promotion Committee and members of the Chamber 
of Commerce were very zealous and affable in looking after 
our interests while in the city. 

The special trolley cars quickly transferred us from 
the Southern Pacific depot to the new and magnificent 
Hotel St. Francis on Union Square, which was to be our 
headquarters during our sojourn in the city. On reaching 
the St. Francis we found that we had been assigned rooms 
in advance of our arrival, and all we had to do was to take 
our key and ascend by one of the elevators to our regal 
apartments. In a few minutes we were all agreeably and 
comfortably located, and more than pleased with our hand- 
some surroundings and reasonable rates. Each room has 
its private bath and toilet, steam heat, electric lights, elec- 
tric reading lamps at the bed-side and private long-distance 
telephone, with all the seclusion of a private boudoir. 

The Hotel St. Francis is one of the most imposing 
and palatial hotels on the Pacific Coast, affording all the 
comforts that the most fastidious taste could desire. It is a 
building 12 stories high, combining strength, beauty and 
safety in its entire construction. It stands on the sloping 
side of Nobs Hill overlooking the beautiful tropical garden 
of Union Square Park. Every room is an outside room, 
and from every window may be had an incomparable pano- 
ramic view of bay, mountains and rolling hills. This hotel 
was erected at an expense of $5,000,000, and the best of 
everything and the latest improvements were used in its 
construction. It was opened March 24th, 1904, and at 

153 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

once leaped tD the front ranks of the city's palatial hotels. 
In the great white and gold concert room of the hotel are 
held the most select musical soirees of the city. The most 
interesting literary and art saloons of the Pacific Coast are 
held in the Sequoia Club rooms of the hotel. Everything 
is planned for the comfort and pleasure of the guests. 
There is the beautiful principal dining room done in the 
French style, with the sides of the room lined with majestic 
columns done in white and gold. The quaint Dutch Rath- 
skeller and the Tyrolean grill room, with its rich colorings, 
attracts and pleases the patrons of light lunches, or after- 
theatre parties. The ball room, with its high ceiling and 
lofty columns, is a place of imperial grandeur. The feel- 
ing of luxurious comfort pervades the entire hotel; all the 
corners are smooth, and there are no noises to jar the 
nerves. Valets, maids, barbers, bell boys and "boots" are 
all on the alert to attend the wants of the guests in their 
rooms. If you are studiously inclined, you can walk into 
the handsomely and richly furnished hotel library, on the 
first floor, and find there 4,000 volumes of fiction and sci- 
ence from which to choose your reading. The cold storage 
plant, the grocery, the butcher shop, the kitchen and bak- 
ery are all on a mammoth scale, and so arranged as to fill 
the tables with the richest and choicest dainties to please 
the appetite of the most exacting epicure. The hotel, with 
all its luxurious appointments, beautiful location and most 
excellent cuisine, leaves nothing to be desired; all is joy, 
peace, comfort and satisfaction within its doors — if you 
have the price. 



154 




THE PLAYFUL SEALS ON THE FAMOUS SEAL ROCKS, 
CLIFF HOUSE, SAN FRANCISCO. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



CHINATOWN — THE BARBARIC — MYSTIC AND WONDROUS. 

AFTER taking our dinner that Friday evening, June 
23d, at the Hotel St. Francis, we found awaiting us in 
the hotel lobby a number of the city police in citizen's 



clothes, who had 
through the kind 
or and chief-of- 
all the sights and 
quaint and Orien 
city — Chinato w n 
party was divided 
20, and each 
liceman as guide, 
plore the haunts 
ental, many 




TYPICAL CHINESE 
CHILDREN. 



been detailed 
ness of the may- 
police, to show us 
mysteries of that 
tal part of the 
by gas-light. Our 
up into squads of 
headed by a po- 
sallied forth to ex- 
of the wily Ori- 
expecting to see 



gruesome sights, but they saw them not, for the excellent 
police supervision, aided by the Highbinders, had closed 
and blotted out those most noisome sights which of yore 
had flourished and festered in the Chinese quarters. 

Chinatown with its some 50,000 Mongolians is crowd- 
ed into an area of about 20 city squares. The "Chinks," 
as the Chinamen are called, are closely packed into their 
quarters like sardines in a box. In some of the large tene- 
ments there are often from four to five floors densely crowd- 
ed, above the ground, and three to four stories under the 

155 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE OPIUM DEN AND ITS VICTIM. 

ground. In some of the small rooms there are packed as 
many as 30 or 40 individuals, who sleep on hard, narrow 
board shelves, or bunks, placed one above another, like 
shelves in a store. The Chinese, notwithstanding such 
crowding and close quarters, is, as a rule, quiet, orderly, 
friendly and peaceful. Yet there is much genuine wicked- 
ness and depravity hidden in the innermost recesses of the 
"Quarter," and much opium is smoked by its enchanted 
victims, but it is not done openly. It is asserted that many 
of the wealthy Chinese merchants not only have a wife in 
China, but also maintains one or two American wives in 
luxury in Chinatown, who have damned their souls and en- 
tered into voluntary slavery out of love of the extatic intox- 
ication of that alluring and baleful drug — opium. 

In a moment we seemed to have been instantly trans- 
ported bodily and set down suddenly in a picturesque corner 
of the Orient. The dim, soft, quavering light shimmering 

156 




THE LIFE OF EASE, MEXICAN QUARTER, SAN FRANCISCO. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

from the many-colored and queer-shaped lanterns, the gro- 
tesque signs, with their spider-like hieroglyphics, the quaint 
and flitting forms, with their flowing costumes, the clatter- 
ing of the sandaled feet, their dark almond-shaped eyes, all 
tended to increase the feeling of strangeness, mystery and 
the foreign air of it all, and make one fairly believe that he 
is in the native haunts of the Celestial. 

We penetrated dark and narrow streets and saw 
thousands of Chinese, young and old, at peaceful occupa- 
tions — barbers, shoemakers, groceries, meat markets, cabi- 
net makers, apothecaries, laundries, dry goods stores filled 
with trinkets, curios, gold and silver work and rich Orien- 
tal goods, displayed by affable, smihng, almond-eyed 
clerks. 

On every side was a continual chatter, and in the 
Chinese tongue, of which we understood not a word. We 
looked into all kinds of shops and houses, and in some of 
the shops we saw gathered the proprietors, clerks and their 
friends playing the national game of fan-tan, the winners 
and loosers alike very sober and intent on the game. 

On one of the by streets we saw a high-caste lady 
dressed in rich silks tottering along on her bound and com- 
pressed little feet. They were bound so tightly and cruelly 
that they were not more than an inch and a half long. The 
wonder was that she could move along at all. Following 
this lady were two little children who looked for all the 
world like over-grown Chinese dolls. Some of us entered a 
Chinese theatre at the price of two bits per head to see the 
play. The Chinese theatre has the longest plays in the 
world. Sometimes the play will start at noon and proceed 
all through the following night without intermission. To 

157 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




us it seemed a burlesque. The actors, in their quaint and 
curious costumes and grotesque make-up, uttered loud cries 
that seemed without humor or pathos — then the orchestra 

creating a din with their tom-toms, 
'ffi making a hideous noise, devoid of 
either time, harmony or melody — 
served only to make us laugh at 
the grotesqueness of the whole af- 
fair. The attempts at scenic effect 
were exceedingly crude. A bowl of 
water represented the ocean, and a 
,^ dwarf tree in a flower-pot symbol- 
ized a forest. We soon left the 
theatre, thinking our fifty cents 
dearly spent, yet the Chinese spec- 
STAR ACTOR, CHINESE tators seemed highly pleased and 
THEATRE. elated over the performance. 

A barber shop in full operation attracted our attention 
and afforded much amusement. The victim of the tonsor- 
ial artist squats on the floor, holding in his hands, in front 
of him, a china basin containing the lather and hot water, 
while the barber copiously lathers the victim's face, head, 
ears and neck. The head and face are then scraped until 
they are as smooth as a billiard ball. The barber completes 
the operation by cleaning out the ears, eye-lids and eyes, 
straightens the eye-brows and brushes and oils the quene — 
an operation requiring skill and patience on the part of the 
operator, and endurance on the part of the victim. 

There are a number of fine joss houses, or Chinese 
temples, in Chinatown. Each band, or "company," as the 
Chinese societies are called, have their own particular gods 

158 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

and joss houses. We visited one of the finest of these, which 
was richly furnished with carved woods and ivories and 




A STREET OF RESIDENCES, CHINATOWN. 

159 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



was ruled over by the fiercest-looking and most hideous 
idol gods we had ever seen. Ugliness seems to be more 
attractive than beauty in the Chinese gods. Here we 
found several venerable, wizen-faced priests, or attendants, 
who seemed think their chief duty was to sell us small 
bunches of heathen incense sticks at 75 cents a bunch, and 
grew quite angry and vociferous when we declined to in- 
vest in aromatic punk for the benefit of the god and his 
humble servitor. We left the temple with the priest's 
threats, which we understood not, thundering in our ears. 

The oflfice of a real live Chinese daily newspaper, a 
few houses further on, attracted our attention, and we in- 
spected the Oriental print shop and its contents, parting 
with a nickle apiece for a copy of the unique paper. We 
could see that it was giving all the news of the Russo-Jap- 
anese war, but just what it said was 
beyond us. We sought out the 
most elaborately furnished tea house, 
or Chinese restaurant, and entered, 
drank strong tea, eat rice cakes, 
swallowed rich preserves and sick- 
eningly sweet confections, and tried 
unskillfully to use chop-sticks, in- 
stead of knives and forks. We sat 
at a richly hand-carved teak-wood 
table, having a beautiful mosaic 
THE BELLE OF CHINA-j^^j.]-,]^ ^Qp_ Then we investigated 
TOWN. ^j-^g mysteries of the Chinese kitch- 

en and felt worse for the investigation. We visited a large 
wholesale and retail store farther up the street, said to be 
owned and operated by the richest Chinese merchant in the 

160 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

world. We can readily believe that assertion, for the shop 
was filled with rare and rich curios and beautiful, magnifi- 
cent silks and satins, but the prices were away up in the air, 
yet many of the ladies bought the dainty wares. 

Thus we saw Chinatown, and found not a single opium 
den or other evil place open. If they existed they had 
shrunken into their shells and were hidden away. Soon we 
returned to the hotel to retire and rest for the morrow. 

The Chinaman has many strange and curious customs 
which it would ill become the Christian to adopt. Yet the 
Heathen Chinese has one practice that puts many another 
nation to shame. It is this — before the Chinese New Year 
dawns, and the "Chink" commences the noisy, hilarious 
celebration of it, he must, and does, pay off all his old 
debts. It is considered an everlasting disgrace for him to 
enter the New Year with debts on his back. The Chinese 
end the old year with all manner of uproarious noises, beat- 
ing of gongs and other unmusical instruments, with fire- 
works of all kinds, and with burning the Devil in effigy. 
The burial of a Chinaman is a ceremonious and solemn 
affair. As the funeral cortege proceeds to the cemetery, 
with the beating of tom-toms, with the weeping of the hired 
mourners, and with numerous and costly gifts, innumerable 
pieces of brightly colored paper, in which thousands of holes 
have been punched, are strewn along the way. This 
strewing of paper along the route is to protect the soul of 
the departed Celestial, for the Devil has to pass through 
every one of the holes in the bits of paper, and before he 
can accomplish that feat the soul of the Chinaman is so far 
ahead in the race that he never is caught, and reaches the 
"Realms of the Blest" in safety. On the Chinaman's grave 

161 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

are placed all manner of confections, cakes sweet-meats and 
cooked meats for the sustenance of the Chinaman's soul 
while it travels Heavenward. Both the Chinese and Jap- 
anese make it part of their religion to honor their departed 
ancestors, which they do by offering prayers at the joss 
house, or temple, and by placing gifts on the graves of the 
departed. The great mystery to the Caucasian is what be- 
comes of these gifts left in the place of burial? They dis- 
appear after a time, but certainly the spirits do not take 
them or eat them. 

As all days in San Francisco are days of sunshine, 
the next day dawned bright and fair, and our party started 
early on special trolley cars provided by the Chamber of 
Commerce to see all the sights of the city. The cars 
started from the business section of the city, and from there 
passed on to the residence section, where we saw the hand- 
some and comfortable homes of the well-to-do people, and 
gazed with wonder and admiration on the gorgeous palaces 
of the wealthy. From the high hills we were afforded 
beautiful views of the city and charming vistas of the bay 
and the Golden Gate. One innocent damsel from the Mid- 
dle West, to the amusement of her chums, asked the guide 
to point out the Golden Gate, "for," said she, "I cannot see 
any gate. I can only see large bare rocks." To her the 
whole thing was a disappointment, for the little innocent 
expected to see an actual shiny gate of gold, hinges and all, 
with the latch-string hanging out. Several hours were con- 
sumed in touring the city, viewing the houses, inspecting 
the missions and seeing the stately churches, cathedrals and 
synagogues, when we returned to the hotel in time for 
lunch. 

162 



CHAPTER XXn. 

OAKLAND — MOUNT TAMALPAIS — THE CROOKEDEST RAIL- 
ROAD IN THE WORLD. 

THE afternoon was taken up with excursions to the 
near-by suburbs of the city. The first and principal 
one was Oakland, six miles across the San Francisco Bay. 
To the surprise of many of our party Oakland was found to 
be a first-class city, covering 18 square miles, with fine 
municipal improvements and excellent trolley, car service. 
A number of trans-continental railroads terminate here and 
the passengers and freight transferred to San Francisco in 
ferry boats. Oakland has 15 miles of water frontage, upon 
which are located large iron and steel works, ship yards, 
lumber yards, coal bunkers, cotton mills, potteries, tanner- 
ies, magnesite works, borax and oil refineries. The popu- 
lation is about 110,000, and is filled with attractive and 
beautiful residences standing far back on pretty, well-kept 
lawns, adorned with sweet flowers and handsome shrubbery. 
Many San Francisco business men have their homes in 
Oakland. As a proof that the place is growing rapidly the 
Board of Trade pointed to the fact that 1,571 new residen- 
ces were erected there last year. 

Another suburb hurriedly visited was Berkley, where 
is situated the magnificent University of California. This 
university has the most famous ampitheatre in the world. 

163 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



It is a natural hollow in the 
mountain, surrounded with mas- 
rive circles of seats, tier above 
tier, made out of concrete, with 
a seating capacity of 8,000 peo- 
ple. The speaker's rostrum is 
in the centre, and the speaker's 
voice can be easily and distinct- 
ly heard in any portion of that 
vast circus. Here it was that 
President Roosevelt delivered 
an eloquent and famous com- 
mencement address, May 14th, 
1903. The University of Cal- 
ifornia has taken high rank 
among the educational institu- 
tions of the country. It has an 
endowment of about $15,000,- 
000. Its yearly income is about 
$500,000, thus making it inde- 
pendent of tuition fees for its 
success. The professors are the 
finest and ablest that can be 
had in this country, and the 
student body are as fine speci- 
mens of brawn, muscle and 
brains as can be found in the 
length and breadth of the land. 
In the afternoon we took a short 
trip out from San Francisco, 
which proved to be one of the 

164 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

most beautiful and pleasant of the entire tour, A small 
party of us took a mammoth ferry boat from its pier and 
enjoyed a delightful run down the bay, sailing close to the 
wharves and giant ships and foreign feluccas, passing the 
pretty islands of Alcatraz and Angel, to Sausalito on the 
northern side of San Francisco Bay. At Sausalito we 
entered the cars of the North Shore Railroad and passed 
along Richardson's Bay ( an arm of San Francisco Bay ) 
some six miles to Mill Valley, the situation of which is so 
picturesque and charming that it has been christened the 
Switzerland of America. Mill Valley is situated at the 
foot of Mt. Tamalpais, the most romantic and picturesque 
mountain in California. Long before the days of the Cali- 
fornia gold excitement the northern part of the State, and 
especially in the neighborhood of this peak, was possessed 
and occupied by a powerful Indian tribe called the Tamals, 
and from their name and the word pais, meaning country, 
the mountain took its name. 

At Mill Valley we found awaiting us four cars and a 
powerful mountain-climbing engine to take us to the sum- 
mit of the mountain. This railroad up the mountain was 
built in 1896, and is a standard broad gauge railroad, with 
steam oil burning locomotives of a powerful and special 
type. It is not a cog-wheel road, and, strange to say, has 
no steep inclines. The grade is gradual, averaging 5 feet 
to the 100. The road is known as "The Crookedest Rail- 
road in the World," and it fully justifies the name, as with- 
in its 8 1-5 miles there are 281 curves, which if they were 
continuous would make 42 complete circles. The longest 
piece of straight track is 413 feet, and that occurs in that 
part of the line where the road makes a complete double 

165 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



bow-knot. At one point of the road, on the ascent, you can 
see five different pieces of the road lying like steps in the 
mountain below you. 

The top of the peak is about 2,600 feet above the 
level of the bay, but the ascent is so gradual that you do 

not fully appreciate the 
height and there is nothing 
alarming or terrifying in 
the ride. We seated our- 
selves in the open observa- 
tion cars prepared to enjoy 
what proved to be a most 
glorious and exhilerating — 
nay, entrancing ride. A pre- 
liminary toot of the locomo- 
tive whistle and a wave of 
the hand of the conductor 
and we were off on our trip 
up toward the sky. Immed- 
THE DOUBLE BOW-KNOT, MT. lately after leaving Mill Val- 
TAMALPAIS RAILROAD. ley the road enters a forest 
of our old friends, the majestic redwood, for which California 
is so famous. Then we wind through the beautiful and 
romantic canyon of Blithedale, along its ever-flowing and 
warbling creek, past numerous suburban homes, with their 
picturesque ponds and lakes. Marsh's Japanese Village and 
its quaint houses, continually ascending higher. Crossing 
the head of that canyon the road swings back gradually 
rising until there are no trees to obstruct the view, except 
where wooded canyons are crossed, filled with redwoods, 
medronas, oaks and laurels, lending a pleasant variety to 

166 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the trip and preparing for the next outburst of the pano- 
rama a on a broader scale. Curving through the canyons, 
looking down their precipitous sides, the road crosses over 
Silver Gulch, through McKinley Cut, around Summit Av- 
enue, into Mill Valley Canyon, the vast panorama expand- 
ing every minute as the Bay of San Francisco opens out. 
Mt. Diablo in the east slowly pushes its great bulk above 
the Coast Range. As we slowly approach the summit of 
Mt. Tamalpais the scene becomes more beautiful, and such 
a vast panorama of the greatest grandeur and beauty is 
unfolded before us as beggars the powers of description to 
fully and adequately paint it in words. At the foot of the 
mountain stretches out a silvery sheet, the waters of San 
Francisco Bay. Off to the west you see the famous Gold- 
en Gate, and reaching from the Golden Gate away to the 
distant horizon are the billows of the Pacific Ocean painted 
bright by the golden rays of the setting sun. In the far 
distance are seen San Francisco, the Cliff House, Oakland, 
Alameda, Berkley, Mt. Diablo, Point Richmond, Mill Val- 
ley, Belvedere and other places. 

It is a magnificently beautiful picture that far surpasses 
any view we have ever seen, either in this country or 
abroad, and one that will long remain impressed on the 
tablets of our memory. At the top of the peak is the 
Tavern of Tamalpais which has very fine accommodations 
for tourists desiring to make a sojourn there. A number 
of Alpine Clubs of young men and women have been formed 
in San Francisco, who climb the sides of the mountain by 
moonlight and remain to see the sun rise from that vantage 
point. The railroad company has also adopted a unique 
way of taking advantage of the beauties of the sun rise. A 

167 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

car is started down the road from the summit, just before 
sun rise, by gravity, and the passengers have all the pleas- 
ure of the beauty of the dawning hours and the excitement 
of an untrammeled ride. We left the summit of Tamalpais 
at dusk and returned to the 
Hotel St. Francis for our even- 
ing dinner. The evening was 
spent in ths pleasures of a 
theatre party, seeing the city 
by gas light, and an after- 
theatre supper. The next 
day was Sunday and the 
morning was spent in various 
devotional ways, as best suit- 
each individual conscience. 

San Francisco has a club 
which is unique in many ways. 
It is the Bohemian Club — 
Bohemians of the Bohemians. 

Among their customs is one higH-CURVE TRESTLE, MT. 
rare delight and pleasure, 

1-1 ^ • 1 f TAMALPAIS RAILWAY, 

which many an outsider oi 

social and artistic taste would fain enjoy. On the Saturday 
nearest the August full moon, every year, the club, with its 
few invited guests repair to the wonderful and mysterious 
grove of Big Trees a few miles from the northern shore of 
San Francisco Bay. Here they remain for a fortnight en- 
camped, celebrating their unique feast of the Midsummer 
High Jinks. The monarchs of the forest, with their rug- 
ged and hoary sides, stand close together like brothers lift- 
ing their green-crowned heads high up into the skies, check- 

168 



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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

ing, sifting, mellowing the golden beams as they fall earth- 
ward, making it always a dim and religious twilight in the 
grove, giving everything a romantic glow. The life there, 
as the days roll by, is full of joy, pleasure, poetry, romance 
and adventure, in which some say that not infrequently the 
active little god, Cupid, plays an important part. At the 
ending comes the High Jinks, over which the composer, 
poet, costumer and actors have toiled and struggled for 
many months. Once this performance was comparatively 
simple. Now it is usually a drama — or rather, perhaps, a 
masque — written in verse by one of the club poets and set 
to orchestral music. Two conventionalities govern it — the 
enactors must be woodland folk; the theme must turn on 
the restoration of good fellowship through the death of Care. 
Great nights they are, those of the Jinks. No one pretends 
to go to bed. After the burning of the statue of Care, 
everybody goes first to supper and hears much untrammel- 
ed western oratory. Then, in a side canyon, or about the 
camp fire, the club comedians present the "Low Jinks," 
usually a burlesque on the High. And around the camp 
fire the members and guests keep going all night, and fin- 
ish at dawn with a dip in the river. 



169 



CHAPTER XXni. 

THE STRAITS OF CARNEQUINEZ — THE LARGEST FERRY 
BOAT IN THE WORLD — SACRAMENTO — THE CAPITAL. 

AT two o'clock Sunday afternoon, after a continual 
round of pleasure and generous hosptitality at the 
hands of the people of San Francisco, we departed with 
keen regret to Oakland to board our special train and con- 
tinue our journey. At Oakland we found our Southern 
Pacific train in spick-and-span order awaiting us. It was 
not long until everyone of the party was accounted for, and 
the train started northward, and bound for our next brief 
stop at Sacramento, the capital of the State of California. 
In an hour or two we reached the banks of the great Sacra- 
mento River, and our further progress was seemingly barred 
by a vast expanse of deep and bridgeless water. The 
place where our train halted was called Porta Costa; the town 
on the opposite side of the water was called Benicia, and 
the turbulent waters between are named the Strait of Came- 
quinez. While the train stood still we investigated matters 
and found there was a way across the water — by a floating 
railroad — or, in other words, by means of a gigantic ferry 
boat, named Solano. When we saw the ferry boat, which 
is said to be the largest in the world, we realized it was 
equal to the task of moving us. It is 424 feet long, 121 
feet wide and has four railroad tracks on it, side by side, 

170 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 











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COUNTRY SCENE NEAR SACRAMENTO. 

and is run by four engines of 2,000 horse power. The 
boat will carry 36 large sized freight cars, or 48 of the old- 
style small cars. Our train of two locomotives and ten cars 
was cut into three sections and run out on the boat with- 
out a jar. The boat sailed the water like a swan and car- 
ried us and our cars easily and gracefully across the strait. 
While crossing we left the cars and climbed into the pilot 
house and every high spot of vantage on the boat. 

Benicia, the town on the north side of the strait, is 
known to fame as the birthplace of the pugilist, John C. 
Heenan, who, in 1860, engaged in a prize fight with the 
noted Englishman, Tom Sayers. They fought 64 rounds, 
when Sayers' arm was broken and the fight ended in a 
draw. After leaving Benicia our train entered a swampy 
section, which is underlaid with quicksand deposits. The 

171 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




STREET SCENE, SACRAMENTO. 



railroad is built on piling, and frequently as much as 400 
feet of track disappears suddenly into sink holes, compell- 
ing the railroad company to pour car load after car load of 
stones into the hole, and spend hundreds of dollars repair- 
ing the damage. Such repairs had just been completed 
before we reached there, and we passed over the road in 
safety. Beyond the swamps we entered a fine level pas- 
ture land, on which we saw thousands of fat sheep and sleek 
cattle grazing. Still further on we passed through thrifty 
farms and extensive vineyards, laden with rich and luscious 
grapes. 

We reached Sacramento shortly before sunset and were 

172 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

met at the station by the Board of Trade and committees 
of citizens. The first want was supper, and a general rush 
was made for the restaurants and hotels. After our inner 
man was satisfied, the Board of Trade took us in charge 
and guided us in special trolley cars over the city, stopping 
to carefully inspect the famous Sutter's Fort, which has 
been thoroughly repaired and restored, and is in an excel- 
lent state of preservation. Here it was that in the early 
days of the settlement of that section of California that the 
traders and settlers fled for safety and protection when the 
hostile Indians took to the war-path, and sought their scalps. 
Later, after viewing the residential portion of the city, we 




THE CROCKER ART GALLERY, SACRAMENTO. 

173 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




ONE OF SACRAMENTO'S BEAUTIFUL PARKS 



visited the Crocker Art Gallery, which is said to be the 
finest in the State, and which is full of beautiful, costly and 
pleasing paintings and statuary. The paintings alone are 
valued at close to a milHon dollars. 

At the completion of the trolley ride our party was 
escorted to the stately and magnificent capitol buildings and 
tendered a handsome reception by the Governor and citi- 
zens. The capitol building is situated in a most beautiful 
park, which greatly enhances the beauty of the magnificent 
structure, which for imposing grandeur of appearance is 

174 




COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND SUTTERS FORT, SACRAMENTO, CAL 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

unexcelled by any similar building in any of the States. 
At the reception each of the ladies was presented with a 
handsome boquet of beautiful flowers. While at the capi- 
tal we learned an interesting fact — that John Bigler, who 
was Governor of CaHfornia from 1851 to 1855, was a na- 
tive of the Keystone State, having been born at Carlisle, 
January 8, 1805. He moved to California, with his family, 
in 1849. He was a brother of William Bigler, who was 
Governor of Pennsylvania at the same time. 

Sacramento is a thriving city, with fine business blocks 
of granite and brick, and is modem and up-to-date in all 
respects. It has a well-equipped and well-managed electric 
trolley system, which reaches all parts of the city, and pen- 
etrates into the surrounding country. The church build- 
ings are numerous and of beautiful and imposing architec- 
ture. The streets are numbered in one direction and the 
intersecting streets are named after the letters of the alpha- 
bet. The city is certainly a beautiful one with wide, well 
graded and nicely shaded thoroughfares. 

Sacramento is improving rapidly under the wise ad- 
ministration of the Board of Trade, whose campaign of pub- 
licity and promotion is ably managed. The city adminis- 
tration is alert, active and doing all that it can to second the 
efforts of the Board of Trade. We regretted that our time 
was so limited that we could not see more of the city and 
linger longer with its hospitable people. 



175 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

DUNSMUIR — THE LADY BARBERS — THE LORDLY MT. 
SHASTA — MT SHASTA SPRINGS. 

OUR special train left Sacramento on its northern run 
shortly after midnight. As we sped along the north- 
em border of California we crossed and re-crossed the Sacra- 
mento River no less than 18 times, as it wormed its tortu- 
ous course to the sea. The next morning found our train 
at Dunsmuir, California, a hustling mountain town on the 
Cascade Range, where we were treated to a generous break- 
fast. The mountain air had sharpened our appetites and 
we ate our meal with keen relish. During our short stop 
we saw all the sights, and among the curiosities was a bar- 
ber shop run by lady barbers. The mountaineers seemed 
to enjoy having the girls put their arms around their heads 
and pat their cheeks during the shaving operation. Some 
of grey-beards of our party were so charmed with the novel 
sight that they ventured into the shop and had one the 
dizzy blondes lather and shave them. The girls were not 
slow in the matter of inviting the boys to take a seat and 
try a shave. The only wonder is the boys escaped with 
any money at all. The girls thoroughly understood their 
business, and were raking in the coin at a great rate. The 
fun was cut short by the locomotive whistle warning us to 
board the train again. After leaving Dunsmuir the train 

176 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



passed up some very steep grades, around sharp curves and 
over a great horse shoe bend, which is a close rival of the 

P. R. R. horse 
shoe curve. The 
puffing, struggl- 
ing locomotives 
showed plainly 
what a herculean 
task is was to 
haul our heavy 
train up the moun- 
tain. The road 
ran through very 
picturesque scen- 
ery — rugged 
mountains tower- 
ing on each side, 
with a turbulent 
stream of crystal 
clear water dash- 
ing and tumbling 
ing over the mos- 
sy rocks in silv- 
ery spray. Each 
turn of the rail- 
road gave a dif- 
ferent setting to 
the scene and 
painted a new and 
beautiful picture 
for us to feast our eyes upon. In a short time our train 

177 






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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



ran closer and deeper and deeper into the mountains, and 
the pine and redwood trees, with their deep green fohage, 
became more nu- 
merous, contrast- 
ing beautifully 
with the browns, 
greys and coppers 
of the rocks, while 
the sunlight glint- 
ing and glancing 
down over the 
mountain peaks 
and rocks, with 
deep blue of the 
sky overhead, 
completed the 
beautiful picture. 
A few moments 
later a turn in the 
road brought into 
view the noble 
Mount Shasta, 
with its royal head 
crowned with a 
diadem of ever- 
lasting snow. — 
There, high up 
in the air, stood 
the guardian peak 
14,442 feet above 
the sea, alone in all its grandeur, the ruler of the mountains 

178 




««C3=^ 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



The beauty and majesty of that picture appealed to one and 
all of us, as we gazed long in wonder and admiration. It 

was hard for many 
of the party to be- 
lieve that the sum- 
mit of Mount 
Shasta was real- 
ly crowned with 
snow those later 
days in June, but 
so it was, and the 
icy cold streams 
that came tumbl- 
ing down the 
mountain sides 
testified of the 
snow, ice and 
cold on those 
heights above. 
The summit of 
Mount Shasta is 
scaled annually 
by many hardy 
tourists, and after 
a strenuous climb 
of ten hours they 
reach the top, 
when they are 
amply repaid for 
their labor; for 
on that high vantage point they become neighbors to the 

179 






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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



clouds, and there before them stretches out a wonderful 
panorama embracing Oregon, part of California and Neva- 
da's plains, while 
far to the west 
may be seen the 
blue waves of the 
Pacific Ocean, — 
In a few hours our 
train rounded a 
curve and we 
came in sight of 
Mount Shasta 
Springs, one of 
California's most 
famous and pop- 
ular summer re- 
resorts. It is 
claimed there is 
no finer mountain 
resort in the 
world. Its wat- 
ers possess rare 
virtues and cura- 
tive properties. — 
The mountain 
side seems to be 
strewn with 
springs of crystal 
water which 
comes bubbling 
forth from the rocks and dash down the mountain side, 

180 




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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



forming the most beautiful and entrancing cascades imag- 
inable. The main sources of water are five mineral springs 

at the base of the 
mountain, near 
the railroad track, 
which are united 
and pour forth in- 
to a very large 
concrete basin — 
The waters are 
strongly impreg- 
nated with am- 
monia, the fumes 
rising in clouds, 
and when inhaled 
give one the sen- 
sation of having 
drunk highly 
charged soda wat- 
er. The Com- 
pany in possess- 
ion of the springs 
have a large bot- 
tling plant near 
the main spring 
where they bottle 
and keg the wat- 
er for shipment to 
all parts of the 
world to be used 
as a table and health water. All trains stop at the Shasta 

181 



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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST, 

Springs long enough for the passengers to drink most cop- 
iously of the waters and to view the wonder of the pictur- 
esque scenery. The waters are very highly impregnated 
with alum, iron, soda, magnesium and other minerals, and 
are especially efficacious in the treatment of stomach and 
kidney troubles. Near the station is a large first-class na- 
tatorium, where the visitors can indulge in a plunge bath in 
heated mineral water. At the summit of the mountain is a 
magnificent level plateau adorned with finely kept lawns and 
beautiful flowers. The company has built a commodious ho- 
tel and comfortable cottages for summer visitors. Here is 
held a profitable summer Chautauqua. The summit of the 
mountain can be reached either by an incline railway, about 
2,000 feet long, or by zig-zag paths scaling the mountain 
side at easy grades, with frequent seats for the weary to 
rest upon as they ascend. From the plateau a very fine 
view can be had of the noble proportions of the peak of 
Mount Shasta. 

We left Mount Shasta Springs much pleased and in- 
vigorated by our brief stop there. Leaving the Springs the 
railway continued to climb the mountain and from Horn- 
brook to Siskiyou, a distance of 19 miles, we ascended 
2,258 feet. As we passed along this part of the railroad 
we saw immense and almost endless piles of cord wood 
ranked along the way for the use of the railroad on their 
locomotives. A reference to the map revealed the fact that 
we were nearing the end of California soil, over which we 
had traveled almost a thousand miles from its southernmost 
border to its northernmost line. 



182 



CHAPTER XXV. 

OUR FIRST GLIMPSE OF OREGON — ASHLAND— 
MEDFORD — SALEM. 

SHORTLY after passing Cole's Station we saw by the 
road side the large sign-board marking the limit of the 
Golden State, and the next minute we were in the land of 
Oregon; a land flowing with milk and honey; a land of 
of many rich promises; the land which passed to the United 
States by the treaty of June 15th, 1846, with Great Britain. 
Our first introduction to the hospitable people of Oregon 
was made June 26th, 1905, when our train stopped at Ash- 
land. Here the people had turned out in crowds to greet 
us, and presented us with numerous boxes of the finest and 
largest cherries we ever saw. The fruit was so delicious 
and was such a treat that all ate as much as they could, 
and sighed with regret that they were unable to stow away 
more. Here we were given a carriage drive around the 
city and in the evening took dinner at the station hotel, 
Ashland. It certainly was fine. Everything had been pre- 
pared to the queen's taste by the Chinese cooks. Each per- 
son had a whole juicy, fat spring chicken for himself and all 
the other fixin's, and we ate as though we never expected 
to eat again. 

The Ashland people certainly did everything they 
could to make us leave at peace with ourselves and with a 

183 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

good impression of their growing town. A few hours later 
in the eveing our special made a brief stop at Medford, 
where we were greeted with music and a host of citizens. 
A generous supply of beautiful flowers were presented by 
the ladies' reception committee to our girls. Our time at 
Medford was taken up with an inspection of the local mu- 
seum, located near the station, where there was a magnifi- 
cent collection of the agricultural, horticultural, fioricultural 
and mineral products of that section of the State. A view of 
those exhibits and a talk with some of the prominent citi- 
zens gave us a very correct idea of the possibilities and re- 
sources of that region. 

After leaving Medford, and while our train passed 
swiftly through the darkness of the night, a party of three 
ladies and three gentlemen ( one of the latter being a six- 
footer weighing 225 pounds ) stood on the platform of the 
car talking. Suddenly, out of the darkness, two hard-look- 
ing men, with villainous faces, appeared on the opposite car 
platform. Immediately there arose visions of a genuine 
western holdup. The ladies trembled, screamed and hid 
their jewels and money in their stockings. The big six- 
footer, who looked like a prize fighter, at once started to flee 
back into the car for safety. He said he objected to being 
shot on such short notice. In the twinkling of an eye the 
smallest man of the party quickly stepped across to the other 
platform and demanded the intruders' business. They did 
not display any fierceness, but replied that they were railroad- 
ers who had gotten left, and they desired to go as far as 
Grant's Pass on the special. That seemed all right and the 
dauntless little editor stood guard until those fellows drop- 
ped off the train when that station was reached. But from 

184 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

that time forth no vestibule doors were kept open after night- 
fall, and no chances were taken of a real holdup. 

During the night our train passed through Grant's 
Pass, one of Oregon's most prosperous mining camps, and 
the miners, not to be outdone by the other Oregonians, put 
a box of badges on the train for us. They were certainly 
unique. In the centre of each was a small piece of real gold 
quartz. 

The next morning we stopped for a short time at Al- 
bany, where we were met by pretty young damsels with 
baskets of luscious cherries and beautiful flowers. The 
fruit, flowers and young ladies were fully appreciated and 
enjoyed, and we parted from them with great reluctance. 
Albany is a rapidly growing city of about 6,000 thrifty peo- 
ple. The city has the best transportation facilities of any 
city in the State, except Portland. It is located in the midst 
of the magnificent Willamette Valley. They have just 
enough rain; just enough sunshine; excellent water; no ex- 
cessive heat, and no excessive cold, to make a climate un- 
excelled anywhere. 

A run of a few miles farther brought us to Salem, the 
capital of Oregon, where we were scheduled for breakfast. 
After that meal was over the citizens tendered us a drive 
through the city, after which we were received at the State 
capitol buildings by Governor Chamberlain, and made to 
feel that he was our friend, and that the whole State of Or- 
egon was ours, if we wanted it. The Governor impressed 
us as a courteous, affable gentleman, and as a broad-minded 
and efficient executive. 

Salem, being the State Capital, has the Oregon peni- 
tentiary, asylum for the insane, reform school, deaf mute 

185 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

school, school for the blind and all other purely State insti- 
tutions. The city has many manufactories which turn out 
large quantities of fine products. In the surrounding coun- 
try are raised the finest prunes, strawberries and other fruits 
that can be found in the State. The city is situated on the 
beautiful Willamette River, on which a daily service of 
steam boats is maintained between Salem and Portland. 

After we had seen all of Salem's beauties and points of 
interest, being impressed with its solid worth, we resumed 
our journey, passing through a fertile farming section, with 
signs of prosperity and large crops in evidence on all sides, 
and the country becoming more thickly settled we realized 
that we were approaching the metropolis of Oregon. 




186 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

PORTLAND — THE ROSE CITY — THE LEWIS AND CLARK EX- 
POSITION — SACAJAWEA, THE INDIAN PRINCESS. 

AT one o'clock the afternoon of June 27th our special 
steamed into the Union Station at Portland. The 
bustling activity on all sides and the crowds of people at 
the depot brought home to us the fact that we were at last 
in the city of the famous Lewis and Clark Exposition. At 
the Union Station special trolley cars were awaiting our 
party, and we were soon seated and whirled away to our 
headquarters at the American Inn on the Exposition 
grounds. We found the American Inn to be commodious 
and the entertainment of a very high grade for an exposi- 
tion hotel. The hotel people treated us well, and did all 
they could to make us comfortable; doing all they could to 
serve and please us, and they succeeded in their efforts. 

The Lewis and Clark Exposition pleased us all. It 
was an exposition complete in interesting details, and an ex- 
hibition which would have done honor to many a larger city. 
It would be manifestly unfair to make a critical comparison 
between it and the mammoth affairs which we had seen at 
Chicago, Buffalo and later at St. Louis. It was not in 
their class, but it was in a peculiar and interesting class of 
its own. The exhibition was carefully planned, artistically 
placed, ably managed, and in all its departments complete 
and interesting, reflecting great credit and honor on the 

187 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE UNION STATION, PORTLAND. 



people who projected and conducted it, from President H. 
W. Goode, down to the lowest menial who contributed to 
its success. 

The Exposition grounds were peculiarly fortunate in 
having a beauty of natural setting. The park embraced 
406 acres, and had a beautiful natural lake — Guild's Lake, 
of 220 acres. On one side were the picturesque waters of 
the Willamette River and on the other side towered the 
pine-crowned summits of the Willamette Mountains. From 
the Exposition Park, in the distance, can be seen the snow- 
crowned peaks of Mount Hood, 11,225 feet high; Mount 
Rainer, 14,259 feet; Mount St. Helens, 10,000, and Mount 
Adams, 12,470 feet. There were 10 large exhibition palaces 
on the grounds, erected in the mission style of architecture, 
and treated in a beautiful and harmonious scheme of color. 

188 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

With the large expanse of water, artistic bridges, extensive 
lawns and multitudinous flower beds, with 20,000 rose 
bushes in full bloom, the grounds in daylight presented a 
very pretty sight, and at night thousands of glowing elec- 
tric lights made the Exposition a glorious and brilliant 
panorama of sparkling fountains, flowers, trees, terraces, 
lakes, lagoons and massive and picturesuue buildings. The 
exhibition buildings were the forestry building. Oriental 
exhibits, European exhibits, agricultural, liberal arts, mines 



. . ■ iiliiTTMi^ ' 




■Hj 




1 



A bird's-eye view of PORTLAND. 
and metallurgy, fine arts, machinery, electricity and trans- 
portation. 

The entrance to the grounds was through a stately and 
ornate colonade. The exhibition booths were crowded 
with interesting displays, and the Oriental departments were 
unusually attractive and complete. The palm for the 
largest and richest Oriental display was carried off by the 
wiley Japanese. The United State Government had a fine 
large building, located on an island in the center of the lake, 
in which they made a handsome display from all the de- 
partments of the General Government, there being espec- 

189 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



ially complete exhibits in the Army and Navy branches of 
the service. There was also a fine exhibit of cruisers and 
battle-ships anchored at the exhibition door in the Willa- 
mette River. The usual "Midway" and "Pike" were pres- 
ent under the name of "The Trail." There was gathered 
all the side-shows of the Fair. Some of them were very 
amusing, but others were poor. The 
star feature of "The Trail" was the 
celebrated gray mare "Princess 
Trixie," owned by W. H. Barnes, 
of Sioux City, Iowa, which in its 
tricks and feats of intelligence and 
dexterity, did almost everything but 
talk, far exceeding any 
equine wonder we had ever 
seen. There were large 
daily attendances at the 
Exposi - 
tion, con- 
sidering 
the far dis- 
tant loca- 
tion and 
the popu- 
lation of '^^^ LIGHTHOUSES AT THE MOUTH OF COL- 
surround- UMBIA RIVER, 

ing states. In all almost 3,000,000 people visited the 
Fair. On the evening of June 27th President Goode, of 
the Exposition Association, assisted by other members of 
the official body, and a bevy of handsome ladies, tendered 
our party a most brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable recep- 

190 





RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



tion at the New York State Building, on the grounds. 
Our party, during our short stay, made the most of our 

"^ time in seeing 
all the points of 
interest in the 
Exposition. The 
Lewis and Clark 
Exposition cele- 
brates the 100th 
anniversary of 
the exploration 
of the Oregon 
country, which 
embraced the 
territory now the 
states of Oregon. 
Idaho, Wash- 
ington and parts 
of Montana and 
Wyoming, made 
by Captain Mer- 
riweather Lewis 
and Captain 
William Clark, 
under a commis- 
sion from Presi- 
dent Thomas 
Jefferson, in ths 
year 1803.— 
Many hardships 
and great privations were endured by Lewis and Clark ir 

191 



> 



o 

H 

W 
X 

o 



o 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




SEAL OF THE EXPOSITION 



their travels, and many perils 
were encountered from wild 
beasts and savages. A pretty 
romance was connected with 
this expedition. The two 
explorers were lost in the 
vast wilderness and were 
unable to hit the trail. — 
Suddenly there appeared be- 
fore them a beautiful and 
graceful Indian maiden, who, 
by signs, made them under- 
stand that she was their 
friend and would lead them 
to a place of safety. The 



name of this dusky maiden, who was a princess among her 
own people, was Sacajawea. She 
conducted the explorers out of the for- 
est to the village of her father, where 
they were kindly received and guides 
furnished them to contine their explor- 
ations. The seal of the Exposition 
has on its face a medalion of the Indi- 
an princess Sacajawea walking be- 
tween Lewis and Clark, with her arms 
around their necks, lovingly leading 
them towards the realm of the setting 
sun. On the Exposition grounds 
stands a heroic bronze figure of Saca- 
jawea, representing her as a beauti- STATUE OF MERI- 
ful, youthful and graceful Indian WEATHER LEWIS 

192 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



maiden. If the 
trancing as her 
it is no wonder 
were captivated by 
The Exposition 
thy a visit and a 
the knowledge 
ure and entertain 
saw it were ade 
tion for any incon 




original was as en- 
bronze counterfeit 
i Lewis and Clark 
the forest princess, 
was certainly wor- 
long journey, and 
gained and pleas- 
ment of all who. 
quate compensa- 



veniences that may 
have have been in sTATUE OF WILLIAM curred. After we 
had exhausted the CLARK Exhibition we 

turned our attention to the city of Portland and the sur- 
rounding country. 

Portland has become known to fame as the ''Rose 
City," due to the fact that roses are grown there in the 
, , greatest profus- 



ion 



and 




in the 
greatest perfec- 
tion of bloom and 
perfume of any 
place in the world. 
The roses are 
grown out doors 
all the year 
around, owing to 
the open and salubrious climate, there being no extremes of 
heat or cold and no snows and frosts. The Cascade range 
of mountains protects the city on the east from a rigorous 
climate, and the air is tempered to a wonderful mildness by 
the balmy breezes which sweep landward from the ocean on 

193 



GRAND STAIRWAY TO TERRACE OF STATES 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE ENTRANCE AND ADMINISTRATION 
BUILDING. 



on the west. Frequent rains during the winter months and 
spring-time serve in keeping the rose bushes green and 
their bloom pro- 
hfic. Portland 
has a fine location 
on the Willamette 
River, a short dis- 
tance above the 
stream's junction 
with the Colum- 
bia River, Large 
craft of all kinds 
ascend from the 
ocean to Portland 
wharves, making 
it one of the chief sea ports of the northwest. The United 
States Government is making improvements in the Colum- 
bia and Willa- 
mette rivers 
which will result 
in allowing the 
largest ocean 
vessels to dock at 
Portland, and will 
increase the city's 
importance and 
prestige as a re- 
ceiving and ship- 
ping port. The 
city has a population close to 150,000 people, the majority 
of whom are former easterners, who have gone there and 

194 




A PORTION OF CENTENNIAL PARK. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




INTERIOR OF THE FORESTRY BUILDING 



become hustlers and shouters for Portland's increase and 
prosperity. The city's location is ideal, having plenty of 

lowlands for bus- 
ness locations and 
beautiful hills and 
heights for the 
residental portion 
of the city. The 
city is very pro- 
gressive, has fine 
business build- 
ings and public 
impro V e m e n t s . 
It has an ample 
water supply and 
a complete system of electric lighting, and trolley cars which 
wind around, in and out of the city, for 164 miles. The 
streets are well paved and sewered, and an efficient and 
courteous police department looks after the public safety. 
It has a record of commercial and manufacturing results for 
the year 1903 footing up to $271,000,000, and the bank 
clearings for the ~.™ 

same year am- ^ 

ounted to $176,- 
000,000. The 
city has ample 
accommodation s 
for all its guests. 
The chief hotel is U. S. GOVERNMENT BUILDING, 

the palatial Portland, which was erected at an expenditure 
of $1,000,000, where all the comforts of Hfe may be had at 

195 






■^ * - J* ■' 4^ 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



a good round price. Everything there is done to the 
queen's taste; and you can have it all if you only have the 



us was one 
made to 
Fort Van- 
couver and 
the city 
of Van- 
co u v er , 
Washing - 
ton, only 8 
miles by 
trolley ac- 
ross the 
Colum b i a 
River from 
Portl and. 
Vancou v - 
er was first 
establi s h - 
ed in 1792 
by Lieu- 
tenant Van 
couver, an 



price. Another side trip 
which was much enjoyed by 




SCENE IN CHINATOWN. 



Engl i s h 

explorer, and here in the year 1806 the Hudson 

Bay Company, under the noted McLaughlin, 

established a trading post for trading with the Indians and 

buying furs. Later the place came under the control 

of the Americans, and here on May 23d, 1849, the 

United States founded Columbia Barracks, and the stars 

196 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE FORESTRY BUILDING. 



and stripes floated in the breeze on the banks of the Colum- 
bia River. The name of the mihtary post was, in 1853, 

again changed to 
Fort Vancouver 
and has since re- 
mained the same. 
Here our famous 
generals. Grant, 
Sherman and 
Sheridan, receiv- 
ed some of their 
best early train- 
ing. The boys 
in blue at the 
fort present a 
brave and inspiring sight when they turn out on dress pa- 
rade on the espalande, in front of the quarters, at five o'clock 
each afternoon. Our girls were much impressed by the 
sight of the brass buttons, but we brought them away with- 
out any seriously 
broken hearts. — 
Returning to 
Portland we 

spent the night 
and devoted the 
next day in fare- 
well views of the 
city and partings 
with newly-made 
friends. We had expected to leave Portland early in the 
afternoon of June 29th over the line of the Oregon Railroad 

197 




ORIENTAL EXHIBIT BUILDING. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




and Navigation Company, so that we might view all the 
rugged and romantic beauties of the upper Columbia by 
daylight, but the 



plans were sud- 
denly changed, 
and our special 
did not leave un- 
til late that night, 
much to our re- 
gret, and thus we 
missed seeing 
the grandest of EUROPEAN EXHIBIT BUILDING, 

the river scenery. While we were wandering around Port- 
land we were invited into the United States Court House, 
and there we saw the venerable United States Senator John 
I. Mitchell being tried for land frauds. A few days later 
we read in the papers that his gray hairs and high position 
did not save him. The jury had convicted him. It was a 

sad commentary 
on the vicissitudes 
of life. Here was 
a man of fine com- 
manding figure, 
kindly countenan- 
ce and courteous 
manner, who had 
risen by his own 
AGRICULTURAL BUILDING. efforts from hum- 

ble circumstances to be a man of wealth and great influence, 
only, in his old days, to fall a victim to unlawful graft. 
Senator Mitchell's example should serve as a warning to 

198 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



young men of our day and generation to pursue the straight 
and narrow path, knowing that honesty is still the best pol- 
ity. An appeal was taken from the verdict to the Supreme 
Court of the United States in the hope of saving the offen- 
der from entering the prison gates, but before that tribunal 
could act, on December 8th, 1905, Senator Mitchell was 

seized with a hem- 
orrhage of the 
teeth while in a 
dentist's office and 
died a few hours 
later in the Good 
Samaritan Hospi- 
tal at Portland. — 
Ten miles below 
the city of Port- 
land the waters of 
the Willamette 
River enter into 
the mighty tide of 
the Columbia Riv- 
er and rush a 100 
miles farther on 
to join the Pacific 
Ocean. There 
are many interes- 
ting side trips that can be made cheaply, and in a few 
hours from Portland. 

Many of our party took the steamer down the Colum- 
bia River to Astoria, one of the oldest towns on the coast, 
where we saw the mighty Columbia salmon taken from the 

199 




A CORNER OF THE FORESTRY BUILDING 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



river and in a few minutes turned into the choicest table 
dainties. Each editor took a can of salmon away from the 
cannery as a souvenir. The canneries are mammoth es- 
tablishments, and are conducted on hygenic principles, 
every detail of the prepara- 
tion of the 
fish being 
done with 
the most 
perfect 
cl e a n 1 i - 
ness. Just 
before the 
train left 
Portl and 
our party 
appreci a - 
ted the at- 
ten t i o n , 
kindn ess 
and cour- 
tesy of Mr. 
A.C.Jack- 
son, the SALMON FISHING, COLUMBIA RIVER 

traveling passenger agent of the Southern Pa- 
cific Railroad Company, who had journeyed with 
us from the first hour of our entry into California to the 
parting of the ways at Portland, sprung a surprise on that 
gentleman. Mr. Jackson was at all times attentive to the 
wants of our party, and continually alert to point out all 
places of interest and beauty along the road, thus gaining 

200 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the admiration and good will of us all. The remembrance 
of our party to the genial agent took the form of a beauti- 
fully engraved silver service. The gift was a total surprise 
to Mr. Jackson, and he made a brief speech expressive oi 
his heartfelt appreciation of the generosity and admiration 
of our party toward him. Then we parted with mutual 
good wishes and adieux. 




201 



CHAPTER XXVn. 

THE LA GRANDE VALLEY — HOT LAKE — BAKER CITY — BOY 
THROWS GOLD AT A DEER. 

THE night of June 29th passed away with the clouds 
and the morning of June 30th dawned brightly, with 
a fresh and exhilerating air. During the night we had 
skirted the Columbia River and rushed past the dashing 
Dalles and their romantic scenery. The Columbia is a 
mighty river, and flows over 450 miles before it loses itself 
in the Pacific The morning found us moving swiftly 
through one of the most beautiful and fertile valleys east of 
the Cascade Mountains — the La Grande Valley. It is 
truly a "grande" valley, as its name indicates. On all 
sides were the evident signs of its richness and fertility in 
the vast stretches of wheat fields, pastures and orchards cf 
rich and luscious fruits. The valley embraces 300,000 
acres, and all kinds of fruit are raised there with the great- 
est success, from the finest cherries to the largest apples. 
Thousands of sheep feed in the green pastures and gambol 
along the babbling brooks, furnishing the finest lamb and 
mutton chops that go upon the epicures' table. Even the 
oldest mutton retains its tender juiciness when it graces the 
menu of the stylish restaurant. At La Grande we ate our 
breakfast, and a most generous and hearty breakfast it was, 
for it was late in the morning, like the French de juner. 
On our way north we had seen the rugged and stem moun- 

202 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



tain scenery of Oregon, and now, as we moved southward, 
the scenery had changed and the valley regions were to be 
traversed and inspected until we leave the State. No mat- 
ter what kind of scenery the tourist or traveler may desire 
Oregon has 
it. The 

Cascade 
Mountains 
divide the 
State into 
two grand 
divis ions. 
On one side 
are the riv- 
ers, the Pa- 
cific Ocean, UMATILLA INDIAN 
the snow VILLAGE 

capped mountain peaks, water falls, 
lakes, bays, foot hills, lava beds and 
caves, while on the other side are 

the green, fertile and undulating valleys burdened with 
crops and teeming with pastoral life, while the brooks and 
rivulets, singing their songs of gladness, run hither and 
thither over the valleys like streams of glistening silver. 
The far distant rugged mountains, with their dark green fir 
covered sides and snow capped summits form a beautiful 
frame for this entrancing picture, the pure, clear air bringing 
each beauty spot out with vivid distinctness and carrying the 
vision for a 100 miles away. In these rich valleys are 
grown the largest and sweetest strawberries, blackberries 
and raspberries in the greatest profusion. As we passed 

203 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

swiftly along we saw acre upon acre of towering dark green 
vines upon wire trellises. Upon inquiry we learned these 
were some of Oregon's famous hop fields. The sight of 
the hop vines was marvelous, and we never dreampt they 
were raised upon such an enormous scale. We were told 
that Oregon is the greatest hop producing State in the 
Union, if not in the world. We were also informed that 
the annual production is about 30,000 pounds and the crop 
is worth about $6,000,000. There being so many hops 
raised in that State, there is no excuse for the brewers not 
making pure malt and hop beer. The National Govern- 
ment should do as the foreign governments do — look into 
this question, and see that our drinks are of a standard of 
purity, as well as the foods we eat. 

Oregon is also a large grower of wheat, barley and 
grains, flax and flax seed and sugar beets. The exports of 
flour and bread stuffs from the State annually amount to 
about $10,000,000. Her production of lumber amounts to 
the gross sum of $35,009,0000 each year, and she has bil- 
lions of feet of timber still standing. The Oregon red ced- 
ar shingles has been a familiar sight on the eastern markets 
for many years past. 

The United States Government has commened to look 
to Oregon, and is carrying out the motto, "Save the forests 
and store the floods." There are already many very large 
government forest reservations in Oregon, embracing several 
million acres. The State has untold mineral wealth, which 
has attracted but little attention as yet, and has been but 
poorly developed. It is a State of vast resources. The fol- 
lowing data of Oregon is interesting: Land area in square 
miles, 94,560. Exploring expedition proposed by President 

204 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 





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^ '^ll^H 



CASTLE ROCK ON COLUMBIA RIVER. 

Jefferson, December 4, 1783. Columbia River discovered, 
May 11, 1792. Explored by Lewis and Clark, 1805-06. 
Astoria founded, April 12, 1811. Organized as a territory, 
August 14, 1848. Admitted as a state, February 14, 1859. 
The name Oregon first appeared in print in Jonathan Car- 
ver's "Travels Through the Interior Parts of North Amer- 
ica," which was published in London in 1778. The origin 
of the name is one of the enigmas of history. Carver pro- 
fessed to have received it from the Indians in the country of 
th Upper Mississippi, where he had pushed his explorations. 
The Indians, he says, told him of the River Oregon flowing 
to the Western Ocean, but how much of the tale was his 
own invention it is impossible to say. Jefferson used the 

205 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



word in his instructions to Lewis and Clark, showing it was 
beginning to have a vogue before "Thanatopsis" was writ- 
ten, but it was Bryant's solemn poem, with its sonorus 
verse, which appeared in the year 1817, that famailiarized 
the word Oregon, and soon put it on every tongue. Vari- 
ous other accounts of the Lewis and Clark expedition had 




SUNSET ON THE COLUMBIA 
RIVER. 



appeared both in the United States 

and Europe before the appearance of 

"Thanatopsis," but undoubtedly it 

was Bryant's expression, "Where Rolls the Oregon," that 

first spread the name before the world. 

Oregon is the sportsman's paradise. The rivers and 
lakes teem with the gamey trout, pickerel, bass and wall- 
eyed pike, while the valleys and foot hills abound with 
grouse, quail, golden Chinese pheasants and other wild 
birds; ducks and geese flock to the lakes and afford rare sport. 
In the mountains are found black, brown and grizzly bears, 
the mountain lion and deer and antelope. The mild cli- 

206 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



mate, with a mean annual temperature of 51 degrees above 
zero, permits camp life, with the greatest comfort and pleas- 
ure, all the year around. The State still has plenty of 
public lands for settlers, there being now no less than 18,- 
374,732 acres open for homestead settlers. The country is 
being rapidly filled up with the best class of settlers from 
the middle west, and they do not seem to have any of the 
low grade immigrants from Europe so common in Pennsyl- 
vania, especially around coal mines, stone quarries and rail- 
road operations. The railroad track work in Oregon is 
done principally by Chinese and Japanese of the coolie 
class, with white men for bosses. That seems to be the 




CELILO FALLS, COLUMBIA RIVER, 
most satisfactory kind of labor they can secure for railroad 
construction there, as the white laborer has higher aspira- 
tions, and refuses to engage in that kind of work, save only 
in rare instances. 

We were surprised to find the sentiment of Oregon 
quite tolerant of the Chinese, but this condition of the pub- 
lic mind is accounted for by the fact that they must have 
them to do the drudgery work on the railroads. 

On our way south from La Grande we passed the 
famous Hot Lake. There are the largest hot springs 
known, and are the most remarkable fountains on earth, 

207 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

The lake is 313 miles east of Portland, on the main line of 
the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. The lake 
embraces an area of eight acres, formed by the crater of an 
extinct volcano, supplied by a large geyser of volcanic heated 
water. The springs flow about 3,000,000 gallons of water 
a day, and the temperature is 198 degrees. The waters 
are an absolute specific for all forms of rheumatism, rheu- 
matic gout, stomach and liver troubles, nervous ailments, 
blood and skin diseases. There are at Hot Lake the most 
modern hotel, bath and hospital accommodations for the 
comfort and treatment of patients at the springs. 

Our next stop was made at Baker City, the county 
seat of Baker County, and the metropolis and center of the 
mining district of Eastern Oregon. Here we were well 
treated and shown the sights of the town. Baker City is a 
tovv^n of about 10,000 people and has a commanding posi- 
tion in the valley, standing at an elevation of 3,440 feet 
above the sea level. The climate is most invigorating. 
The town is surrounded with rich agricultural lands, under- 
laid with an untold wealth of minerals and precious metals. 
The mining district surrounding Baker City embraces about 
15,000 square miles, and is larger than the combined areas 
of the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecti- 
cut. There are both quartz and placer mines in the dis- 
trict, and all are worked on a paying basis, although the 
mining industry is in its infancy, and has attracted but lit- 
tle attention from the outside world. In 1904 the gold out- 
put of the State of Oregon amounted to $4,000,000, and a 
large portion of this come from the Baker field. Placer 
mining is what is known as pocket mining. That is, the 
free gold has been washed down from some cliff or ledge 

208 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




CITY HALL, BAKER CITY. 



and collects in a hole, more commonly called a pocket, 
where it is found by some fortunate prospector. At Baker 
City we were tDld a mining story that made us feel like 

remaining a few weeks 
and to flirt with the fickle 
goddess of fortune. — 
Three weeks before our 
arrival an 18-year-old 
Baker City boy was out 
in the mountain with his 
gun and dog hunting 
deer. He had shot and 
wounded a large buck, 
and endeavored to make 
his dog chase the ani- 
mal, but without success. In a fit of passion the boy reach- 
ed down to pick up a stone to throw at his stubborn dog, 
but just as he was about to 
hurl the supposed stone he 
noticed it had a peculiar 
smooth smooth feeling which 
caused him to pause and ex- 
amine it more closely, when 
he discovered he held in his 
hand a nugget of pure gold. 
Of course it was not thrown. 
The gust of passion was suc- 
ceeded by a lust for gold, 
and the boy abandoned the 
chase and turned his atten- 
tion to seeking the pocket 




LOGGING TRAIN NEAR BAKER 
CITY. 



209 



EAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




A QUARTZ GOLD MINE NEAR BAKER CITY. 

from which his nugget had rolled. He succeeded in locat- 
ing it in a short time, and it proved to be a rich one. He 
carefully concealed all traces of his discovery, and returning 
home informed his brother of his rich find. The next day 
the two returned to the spot and staked off claims. Inside 
of two weeks they dug out $40,000 worth of pure gold, and 
later sold their claims to a company of capitalists for $100,- 
000. A fortune of $140,000 in a period of three weeks is 
not such a bad record of sudden wealth. Such good for- 
tune comes to few. Many prospectors work hard for months 
and find only enough to rnake fair wages. 

There is plenty of wealth hidden in those mountains 
and foot hills of Oregon waiting to enrich the persevering 
and lucky prospector. Nearly all our editors would have 

210 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




A PLACER GOLD MINE NEAR BAKER CITY. 

been glad to have grub staked a miner or two in that sec- 
tion had they not been short of funds. The gold fever cer- 
tainly attacked a few of the boys, and they departed most 
reluctantly from Baker City. Even the beautiful carnations 
and luscious cherries furnished us by the amiable ladies of 
Baker City did not banish the thoughts of gold from their 
minds. Our next stop, after leaving Baker City, was Hunt- 
ington, 404 miles east of Portland. It was interesting from 
the fact that there ends the line of the Oregon Navigation 
and Railroad Company, and commences the Oregon Short 
Line Railroad, a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. It 
is destined to become quite a railroad town, and it has the 
noise and bustle of a railroad center. In addition to the 
railroad communication, the town carries on a heavy stage 
and wagon trade with several adjoining counties and also 
the mining districts, which are still beyond the reach of the 

211 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE ROOSTER ROCK, COLUMBIA RIVER. 

iron horse. The town is located in a low basin surrounded 
by high and rugged mountains, but beyond the mountains 
are large and fertile valleys which help to support the town 
and whose people make Huntington their trading depot. 
The town has good schools, first-class hotels and enterpris- 
ing business houses in all lines of trade. 

At Huntington a new crew and a new engine took our 
train, and we gave a new hitch to our watches, setting them 
one hour ahead, as we were passing another time meridian. 
There are, according scientific method, five time meridians 
in the United States, called Atlantic time, eastern time, cen- 
tral time, mountain time and Pacific time. As the traveler 
starts west from the Atlantic Ocean he turns his watch back 
one hour as he passes each meridian, and as he comes east- 
ward he sets his watch forward one hour as he crosses each 
of these time lines. Thus when it is noon in Philadelphia 
it is only nine o'clock the same day in San Francisco, and 

212 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

in London, England, it is five o'clock in the afternoon of 
yesterday. 




THE MULTNOMAH FALLS, 1,024 FEET HIGH. 
213 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

IDAHO — THE SNAKE RIVER CANYON — THE BEAR 
RIVER IRRIGATION. 

SHORTLY after leaving Huntington our train crossed 
_ the Snake River, and we were in another State — 
Idaho. The Snake River rises in the Yellowstone National 
Park, in the upper comer of Nevada, flowing westward 
from the boundry line of the states of Idaho and Oregon, 
and then is finally lost in the Columbia River. The Snake 
River well deserves its name, for it is extremely serpentine 
in its windings, and we crossed it many times before we 
lost it. Our train, therefore, rushed in and out of Oregon 
a number of times before we came to a stop at Nampa, 
Idaho, for our supper. Nampa, with its quarter million 
dollar hotel and numerous other fine public houses and good 
restaurants, furnished a very fine evening dinner, which we 
all enjoyed, as we had not had anything to eat since our 
10 o'clock breakfast at La Grande. As we rested a few 
hours in the cool of the evening the Nampa Spielers took 
us in charge, and they outdid the Edison graphophone in 
the beautiful songs they sang us of the present and future 
greatness of their city and surrounding country. The beau- 
ty about their stories is the fact that there is much truth in 
what they tell you, and each fellow thoroughly believes his 
town is just the greatest place on God's green earth, and he 

214 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

hustles for it all he knows how. Even now railroads from 
Nampa run west to Portland, east to Salt Lake, north to 
Emmet, south to Murphy and northeast to Boise, the capi- 
tal of Idaho. The country around about the city is to be 
benefitted by the national system of irrigation, and the United 
States Government has already made arrangements to build 
in that vicinity a mammoth reservoir to cover 10,000 acres 
of land. As a result of this gigantic plant over 400,000 
acres of the Boise Valley will be brought under cultivation, 
and will be made to blossom and bloom like a rose. Idaho, 
with its 84,200 square miles of land and 510 square miles 
of water, presents limitless opportunities for the capitalist, 
settler, miner and farmer, for the State has but a small pop- 
ulation, and the development of its vast resources of all 
kinds is in its infancy. Fortunes there await the hardy, 
venturesome and strong, who are willing to spend their 
efforts in subduing the rugged sides of nature. 

During the night our train traversed almost the entire 
width of the State, and on the morning of July 1st we 
stopped at Pocatello, in the southwestern section of Idaho 
to have a dining car attached to our train. The one diner 
was not sufficient to feed our party very rapidly, and it was 
late when the last of us had our breakfast that morning. 
But the delay was taken philosophically by the most of us, 
and the kickers kicked in vain and had to wait their turns. 
Going south from Pocatello, Oregon, to Ogden, Utah, we 
passed through some very rugged and curious scenery for 
many miles along the Snake River. We saw gigantic 
walls of stone placed there by nature to confine the river. 
In many places these rocky cliffs, with layer after layer of 
stone piled, wall fashion, one above the other, looking not 

215 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

unlike the pictures one sees in prints of the great Chinese 
wall, which for thousands of years encircled the great Celes- 
tial empire. As we rushed along we could see numerous 
holes the gold miners had dug all along the mountain sides 
with more or less success. Crossing the mountain divide 
we reached the canyon of the Bear River, and followed the 
river for many miles through very romantic mountain scen- 
ery. After leaving Franklin we crossed the Idaho State 
line into the empire of the Mormon State — Utah. Passing 
down through the Bear River canyon we saw exemplified 
the genius of man in harnessing the powers of nature to do 
his work. A large dam of solid masonry had been flung 
across the Bear River, high up in the mountain, collecting 
millions upon millions of gallons of water for irrigation and 
commercial purposes. From the dam, on both sides of the 
canyon, large canals led the water to the low lands and 
valleys below, where it was utilized to generate electricity 
for power and light, and also to irrigate the arid valleys, so 
that they would blossom and bear the greatest abundance 
of fruit. The canals are marvels of engineering skill, being 
cut through the solid rocks of the cliffs bordering the canyon, 
and where the river took sudden turns tunnels were bored 
through the rocky barrier to conduct the water on its down- 
ward course. The expenditure of time and money to con- 
struct these canals was enormous, but it was fully justified, 
for by means of the water so imprisoned and conducted hith- 
er and thither at the will of man, thousands of acres of Utah 
desertr were converted into fertile and productive farms. The 
only thing needed to make those deserts produce the best 
grain, juiciest fruit and prettiest flowers was water, and it 
has been supplied by the ingenuity and skill of man. 

216 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

UTAH — THE MORMON STATE — ITS EXPLORATIONS 
AND HISTORY. 

TO-DAY Utah, with her 82,190 square miles of land 
and 2,780 square miles of water, produces magnifi- 
cent crops of wheat, corn, oats, mammoth potatoes and 
acres of beautiful flowers, while from her mountains come 
millions of dollars annually in gold, silver and copper. 

The first explorations of Utah were made by the 
Spaniards in 1540. The first settlements were made by 
the Mormons under the famous Brigham Young, at Salt 
Lake, in 1847. The Mexican government claimed the 
territory by right of Spanish exploration, but in 1848 Mex- 
ico ceded Utah to the United States. September 9th, 1850. 
Congress passed an act creating the territory of Utah. In 
the year 1896 Congress passed an act admitting Utah as a 
state to the Union. 

The first stop we made in Utah was at Ogden, the 
railroad center of the State, and the largest and most influ- 
ential city in the State outside of the famous Salt Lake City. 
Ogden is a hustling city of about 25,000 people, with a 
large percentage of "Gentiles," as the non-Mormons are 
called. Among the prominent railroads centering there are 
the Union Pacific, the Oregon Short Line, the Denver and 
Rio Grande Railway and the Salt Lake and Southern. 

217 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

As our train was much behind time we did not have 
time to see the whole of Ogden, our special waiting only 
long enough for lunch and a change of crew and engines. 
At Ogden our train was switched onto the tracks of the 
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which was to take us all 
the way to Denver, Colorado. 

It is interesting to note that the settlement of Utah by 
the Mormons, under Brigham Young, was exceedingly 
romantic and picturesque. Brigham was one of the leaders 
of the Mormon sect at Nalvoo, Illinois. One day in Feb- 
ruary, 1846, he informed his followers that he had had a 
vision, in which the Lord appeared to him, directing him to 
lead his people forth to the westward, to the land of promise; 
that they should journey westward until they should come to 
an exceeding high mountain, upon which was traced the 
sign of the Cross, and there they should stop, dwell and 
become a mighty nition, The Mormons arcse, girded up 
their loins, gathered their h Dusehold goods, cattle and horses 
in one immense caravan, consisting of cows, sheep and 
horses, and great covered wagons called prairie schooners, 
drawn by horses and oxen; with men, women and children, 
started on their long, wearisome journey, with full reliance 
and confidence in their leader and guide. They journeyed 
by day and rested at right. They traveled over plains, 
crossed mighty rivers, passed along valleys and through 
rugged mountain fastnesses, penetrated unexplored wilder- 
nesses, harrassed at every step by cruel, bloodthirsty savages. 
Thus journeyed they for days, weeks and months, foot sore 
and weary, continually attacked by hostile Indians; with 
undaunted courage and undisturbed confidence in their 
leader, ever westward they went, until they had left behind 

218 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

them 3,000 weary miles. The dawn of the morning of 
July 24th, 1847, revealed to them the white, glistening and 
mighty Cross fastened high on the rugged mountain side 
before them as they stood on the bank of a river, and they 
knew their journey was done. 

The river they called the River Jordan, and the coun- 
try the Land of Promise. The land was then an uninvit- 
ing desert, but it was theirs by right of settlement, and, as 
they believed, chosen for them by the Lord, for was not the 
sign of the glorious Cross on the mountain, just as had been 
foretold? Under adverse conditions and circumstances, 
deemed almost insurmountable, they have converted the 
barren wastes into fertile fields of great value and useful- 
ness. They caused the deserts to blush and bloom like a 
rose. To-day the people of Utah are most, prosperous, 
happy and contented. The Mormons have achieved mar- 
vels in social, commercial and material development of that 
country, and to-day they produce wonderful crops, while 
their orchards grow as fine fruits as are seen in the world, 
and their mines scientifically developed pour forth millions 
of dollars annually to the wealth of the world. On every 
side are seen signs of the energy, thrift and perseverance 
of the Mormons. 

A short run from Ogden brought us to Salt Lake City, 
the Zion city of the Mormons. Our train stopped and we 
found ourselves in one of the most interesting and handsome 
cities of America. It is the headquarters of the sect who 
are pleased to call themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter Day Saints, and is the capital of Utah, the largest, 
most populous, wealthiest and most important city in the 
State. The city is situated on the banks of the River Jor- 

219 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

dan 12 miles distant from the southwest shore of the great 
Salt Lake, at an altitude of 4,200 feet above sea level. It 
nestles at the very base of the Wasatch Mountains, which 
rear their lofty snow-capped peaks 8,000 feet above, dis- 
playing their varied beauties of canyon, crag, pass and cone, 
and as they stretch far southward, bounding for over 200 
miles a grand valley, the paradise ol the farmer, horticural- 
ist and fruit grower. To the west lies the silent, mysteri- 
ous Great Salt Lake, with its health-giving miniature sea 
breezes and exceptional bathing facilities. 




220 



CHAPTER XXX. 

SALT LAKE CITY — THE GREAT SALT LAKE — THE TAB- 
ERNACLE—THE TEMPLE — THE MORMONS. 

THE area of Salt Lake City is about four miles from 
east to west and three miles from north to south. Its 
thoroughfares are traversed by 100 miles of street railways. 
The streets cross each other at right angles, are 133 feet 
wide ( including sidewalks 20 feet wide ) and are lined on 
either side by a uniform succession of beautiful shade trees, 
and washed at either curb by cold and sparkling streams of 
water which flow down from the distant mountain canyons, 
giving the whole city the appearance of a huge grove, 
whose luxuriant foliage covers an attractive collection of 
business marts, rich men's palaces, cottages and villas, with 
here and there a steeple, dome or tower standing out boldly 
from the mass of trees. Each street presents the appear- 
ance of a long avenue of poplar, locust, box alder, catalpa 
and other ornamental shade trees. The streams of pure, 
clear water running along the streets present a novel sight 
and temper the heat of the hottest day in summer. The 
houses of the city have gradually crept out to the foot of 
the Wasatch Mountains. The climate is agreeable and 
salubrious, the air dry, clear and bracing, not unlike that of 
Northwestern Texas and New Mexico. The mean summer 
temperature is about 74 degrees above zero, and the winter 

221 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

temperature about 32 degrees above, although there are 
days when the mercury falls much lower. 

Within the city limits are several warm and hot springs 
which have wonderful curative properties. These springs 
are connected with sanitariums and bathing estabhshments 
where the invalid may bathe and be treated. Our first con- 
cern on reaching Salt Lake City was to provide our noon- 
day lunch, which was somewhat delayed. After satisfying 
the cravings of the inner man our party boarded a special 
train of the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railroad that was 
in waiting to convey us to Saltair, on the shores of the 
Great Salt Lake, some 12 miles distant. A dashing ride 
of 30 minutes brought us to our destination, though long 
before we reached it our lungs were filled with the refresh- 
ing and bracing salt air. Here we were landed at the lar- 
gest casino and dancing pavilion in the world, built out 
over the waters of the lake, 4,000 feet from the shore, and 
supported by 2,500 10-inch piles. The buildings are of 
Moorish style of architecture and were built at an expendi- 
ture of $350,000. The length of the building is 1,200 feet 
and the extreme width 355 feet. The lower floor is used 
as a lunch and refreshment bower, and will seat 1,000 peo- 
ple at the same time. The second f^oor has a dancing hall 
140 by 250 feet. Connected with the pavilions are 1,000 
modem bath houses, each equipped with fresh, cold, running 
water piped from the distant mountains. As we stepped 
forth from the pavilion there, spread before us, were 2,500 
square miles of the greatest, most majestic and mysterious 
sea on earth — the Great Salt Lake — a dazzling, glittering, 
scintillating jewel of the desert. There, 4,210 feet above 
the level of the sea, rippled that mysterious lake whose ori- 

222 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 







^# 



SALTAIR BEACH AND PAVILION. 

gin no man knows. In those waters are no living thing; 
only deep, dark mystery and death dwell beneath those 
briney waves. Here is salt enough to give savor to the 
whole earth. The waters are almost one-fourth (22 per 
cent.) salt. On one of the banks where the water had re- 
ceded were immense deposits of salt which were being dug 
up with pick and shovel by workmen, loaded on cars and 
hauled to the factories to be purified and refined. 

A bath in these alluring and mysterious waters was the 
desire of us all. We soon parted with our "two bits" ( 25 
cents ) and received in exchange a straw hat and a very 
abbreviated bathing suit. As we went to the bathing houses 
we found the walks and steps coated thickly with pure salt. 
A word of caution to us on the saltiness of the water caused 
us to enter very slowly and circumspectly. The water at 
the shore was shallow and deepened very gradually as we 
went farther into the lake. The deeper we got we found 
an increasing tendency of our feet to rise up from the bot- 
tom, and when we reached a depth of five feet they abso- 

223 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

lutely refused to stay down. Then we discovered all we 
had to do was let our feet go and we found ourselves safely 
floating on the surface of the water without any effort on 
our part. It was a queer and startling sensation to find 
that we could not sink beneath the surface of the water, no 
difference how much we tried to do so. We also found 
that the water, with its 22 per cent of salt, was a nasty thing 
to trifle with, for when it got into your mouth it almost 
strangled you, and when dashed into your eyes it would 
almost blind you, burning like fire. Yet, when we finally 
emerged from the briney waves all our fatigue and cares 
had vanished, and we felt refreshed and rejuvenated, but 
covered with a thick coating of salt, like a frosted cake. A 
shower bath of the fresh water soon relieved us of the saline 
deposit. After exhausting all the novel sights and pleasure 
of bathing at the Great Salt Lake, the special train of open 
observation cars took us back to Salt Lake City. 

Upon our arrival there trolleys were waiting to take us to 
the famous Mormon tabernacle. That immense and interest- 
ing building is one of the first edifices that attracts the eye 
on approaching the city. It is oblong, or eliptical, in shape 
and is 250 by 150 feet. The roof consists of a single 
wooden arch, supported by 46 pillars of cut sandstone, 
which, with the space between, used for doors, windows, 
etc., constitute the walls. The roof is the largest self-sus- 
taining roof in the United States, except that of the Grand 
Central Depot, New York. The ceiling of the roof is 63 
feet above the floor. The tabernacle is used for church 
purposes, as well as other large gatherings, and will seat 
about 15,000 people. In the west end of the edifice stands 
the great organ, pronounced by musical critics the finest in 

224 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the world. None equal it in variety of construction and 
massiveness of tonal quality. The original organ was built 
about 40 years ago, and many of the metal pipes were 
carried over the plains by the Mormons in their early flight, 
but the organ has been thoroughly reconstructed and all the 
known improvements added until it stands to-day without 
a peer. It is 53 feet high, 30 feet deep and 33 feet wide. 
It has 108 stops and 5,000 pipes ranging from 2 to 32 feet 
in length. We were treated to the most exquisite musical 
feast here we ever enjoyed. The great organ was presided 
over by Professor J. J. McLellan, a musical genius and 
matchless performer, who stands without a peer in this 
country. After we had entered the building the doors were 
locked so that none could enter and interrupt the concert. 
Then the keys were gently touched by the master hand and 
sweetest sounds gently rose in a perfect and entrancing har- 
mony. From selection to selection the performer passed 
with the greatest ease, carrying his hearers along in a be- 
wilderment of delight. The artist made the great instru- 
ment fairly talk and sing, and when he used the "voce hu- 
mana" stops we could hear the beautiful voices blending so 
harmoniously and sweetly with the music of the other stops 
that we could scarcely believe all the sounds came from the 
organ and not from human throats. We were so charmed 
and captivated by Professor McLellan's music that when 
he stopped, after playing an hour and a half, we could 
scarcely believe the concert was more than a half hour long, 
and we could readily believe that "music hath charms to 
soothe the savage breast." 

The acoustic qualities of the tabernacle are so perfect 
that we heard the sound of a pin dropping in one end of 

225 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the building, 250 feet distant. In front of the great organ are 
the seats for the choir, which has a membership of 250 
singers, none of whom are paid. At the close of the organ 
recital, Apostle John Henry Smith, of the Mormon Church, 
and the editor of The Desert News, the church paper, made 
an address of welcome, and incidentally told us the Mor- 
mons were all good Americans, and that they had been 
much maligned; that they are trying to be good citizens 
and support the United States Government. The anti- 
Mormon party is very bitter in its attacks upon the Mor- 
mons, and several of the members in the city told us that 
we should not trust the Mormons, that they were insincere, 
etc. We doubtless saw the cleanest side, for the Mormons 
did not invite us to their homes, nor reveal any of their 
church secrets to us. They claim that poligamy is being 
done away with. 

Upon leaving the tabernacle we saw the great Mormon 
temple before us, but we entered not therein, for it is 
not permitted that any but the aposdes and good ortho- 
dox Mormons shall enter its mysterious portals. It is 
here that all the secret and mysterious rites, such as the 
"holy marriage," are administered. The temple is a mag- 
nificent and imposing structure of dark granite, and was, 
like Solomon's temple, 40 years in building. It was com- 
menced in 1853, by Brigham Young, and was completed 
and dedicated in 1893. It is 186 1-2 feet long and 99 feet 
wide, its walls being 16 feet thick. It has six towers, three 
at each end. The central tower is 222 1-2 feet high, and 
is surmounted by a golden figure of the Angel Moroni 
bringing the gospel. The figure is made of hammered 
copper and is covered with pure gold leaf. It is 12 feet 

226 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE TEMPLE AND TEMPLE SQUARE. 

5 1-2 inches high, and surmounting its crown is a 100 
candle power incandescent light. The temple covers an 
area of 21,860 square feet and cost $4,000,000. 

Nearby the temple is Assembly Hall, built of white 
granite at a cost of $150,000. It will accommodate an 
audience of about 3,000, and is used for small meetings by 
the State priesthood. All the three described buildings are 
located in what is known as Temple Block, a square con- 
taining 10 acres, and surrounded by a high adobe wall 
built in 1854. 

Just east of the Temple Block is one of the most im- 
portant church offices, called the Tithing House, and here 
it is, each season, that each member of the Mormon Church, 
be he poor or be he rich, takes one-tenth of his crops or 

227 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



business to be used for the Lord — otherwise the Mormon 
Church, We saw a poorly-clad Mormon with his mule 
team and share of grain drive up to pay the church. Is it 
any wonder that the church is wealthy and powerful with 
such sinews of war continually coming in? The Gentile 
churches might well take profit by that example of liberality, 
and then we would no longer hear of church debts and 
poorly paid parsons. 

The Brigham Young houses — the Lion House, the 
Bee Hive House and the Amelia Palace are nearby. The 

Eagle Gate still stands 
guard over what was 
the entrance to the 
spacious grounds, 
which contain the 
many homes of the 
late Brigham Young. 
A little farther down 
^^^ _ , the street is the colos- 

sal statue of Brigham 
THE EAGLE GATE. Young. The most 

mammoth business emporium in the city is the department 
store of Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution. This 
store does a business of $5,000,000 annually, and employs 
350 hands, selling anything from a pin to a four-horse 
wagon. 

After leaving the Temple Block the trolley cars were 
waiting to convey us all around the beautiful city. Each 
car had its guide with his megaphone to direct our atten- 
tion to all the public buildings, places of interest and palat- 
ial homes of its many millionaire citizens. The city, with 

228 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

its high elevation of 4,218 feet above sea level, and its salu- 
brious and exhilerating climate has attracted many wealthy 
stockmen and mine owners to build their magnificent homes 
there. The people of the city are not all Mormons. In 
fact we were surprised to learn that more than one-third of 
the citizens are Gentiles, or non-Mormons. The force and 
power of the Gentiles and independent Mormons was strik- 
ingly illustrated on Tuesday, November 7th, 1905, when 
they carried the city by a handsome majority over the Mor- 
mon organization, electing a mayor and city council. 

The grandeur and magnificence of the public build- 
ings, and the size and stability of the business blocks exci- 
ted our wonder and admiration. Three miles out from the 
city and 700 feet in the air, above the city. Uncle Sam has 
located a military post, with a strong garrison, called Fort 
Douglass 

At the conclusion of the trolley ride we scattered to 
get our dinner, to meet later at the railroad station to re- 
sume our way southward. Everything was soon in readi- 
ness, and we left Salt Lake City about eight o'clock in the 
evening of July 1st, over the Denver and Rio Grande Rail- 
road. Just before leaving we planned and carried out a 
pleasant surprise on our genial, able and most efficient sec- 
retary, Mr. William A. Ashbrook, of Johnstown, Ohio, who 
had planned the itinerary of our tour, and so successfully 
managed the trip. The testimonial was an elegant ring of 
Masonic design, set with a beautiful diamond. The gift 
was a complete surprise to Mr. Ashbrook, and he highly 
appreciated it on account of the good will and friendship 
which suggested its bestowal. 



229 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

ON THE WAY TO COLORAEO— GLENWOOD SPRINGS, THE 
WONDERFUL — THE MINERAL SPRINGS AND VAPOR 

CAVES. 

THE Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, which had us 
in charge from Salt Lake City to Denver, a distance 
741 miles, is an ideally managed road, and is the grandest 
scenic route in the world. The officers of the road are gen- 
tlemen in every sense of the word, and they treated us with 
the greatest courtesy and kindly attention, and did all in 
their power for our comfort and pleasure. 

The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad ascends rapidly 
soon after leaving Salt Lake City. After we had ran about 
two hours it became necessary to attach three additional 
locomotives to pull our train up the mountain, we having 
three engines in front pulling and one behind pushing, until 
at Soldier Summit, Utah, we had reached an altitude of 
7,460 feet and then commenced to descend for a couple of 
hundred miles. During the night we passed through the 
remaining portion of Utah, leaving it at Utahline. The 
next morning, Sunday, found us in the Centennial State, 
Colorado. The joyful word was passed that we would soon 
reach the famous Glenwood Springs, where we would have 
our Sunday breakfast. 

Glenwood Springs, besides its well-earned reputation 

230 




THE VALLEY OF THE GRAND RIVER, COLORADO. 







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THE HOTEL COLORADO, GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO. 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




OPEN OBSERVATION CAR. 

by reason of its hot springs, is noted as a favorite outfitting 
station for the hunters who dehght in going after big game. 
Here it was that President Roosevelt stopped last spring and 
made his preparations to penetrate the mountain fastnesses 
and forests in search of the grizzly bear and other large 
game. Teddy got the big bear, and they tell many stories 
of his prowess and bravery. 

After running some time by the side of a dashing, 
tumbling mountain torrent, our train rushed past a project- 
ing hill and Glenwood Springs and the valley of the Grand 
River was before us. We made a dash over the high 
bridge spanning the river to the Hotel Colorado, one of 
the finest, most perfectly appointed and successful resort 
hotels in the country. Here we were given a breakfast 
with a long menu at $1 per head, but owing to the short 
time at our disposal some of us were unable to eat the 
worth of our money. Glenwood Springs is located in a 

231 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




CASTLE GATE. 



most romantic spot m 
the heart of the Rocky- 
Mountains at an ele- 
vation of 5,600 feet 
above sea level. — 
These hot springs 
have been called the 
Kissingen of Ameri- 
ca, because their wat- 
ers are very similai m 
composition and ef- 
fects to those of the 
noted springs in Kis- 
singen, Germany. 
The most famous of the springs is called the Yampah, hav- 
ing been so named by the Indians generations ago, when 
the dusky aborigines brought their sick and wounded braves 
to the hot springs to bathe and be healed by the "Spirit of 
the Waters," as they called the carbonic acid gas which is 
given off in great quantities from the waters. The early 
white settlers learned of these hot mineral springs from the 
Indians, and their fame has gone on increasing ever since. 
In addition to the hot springs there are three large natural 
caves in the sides of the mountains which are filled with 
steaming hot gaseous vapors. The caves have been fitted 
up with marble seats and modem comforts, and there can 
be taken nature's hot vapor baths. The Yampah spring 
flows 1,700 gallons of hot water per minute. Nearby is the 
great swimming pool, 600 feet long and covering about an 
acre. The water pours into it from the spring at a temper- 
ature of 172 degrees Fahrenheit, but is reduced to a pleas- 

232 



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CHIPETA FALLS, UTAH, 
ant temperature for bathing by the mingHng of cold water 
from the mountain streams. The waters of these streams 
are especially ef^cacious in all stomach troubles and ner- 
vous diseases. The sufferer of chronic diseases of the blood 
and skin, rheumatism and catarrh find relief and cure at 
these baths. Here all kinds and conditions of people can 
enjoy the benefits of the waters. There are many moderate 
priced hotels and boarding houses, and there are bath houses 
for even the poorest of humanity to use. The famous Hotel 
Colorado is 224 feet front and 260 feet deep, and is built 
around three sides of a large court. The hotel is construc- 
ted of peach blow sandstone and Roman brick, modeled in 
Italian style after the famous Villa Medici in Rome. The 
Colorado can accommodate 600 guests and provide them 
with all the modem comforts of life. 

233 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE CANYON OF THE GRAND — THE MOUNT OF THE 
HOLY CROSS— THE ROYAL GORGE. 

FROM Glenwood Springs commenced the most roman- 
tic picturesque part of our ride down through the can- 
yon of the Grand River. The valley at Glenwood Springs 
was wide, but soon after leaving that station the valley dis- 
appeared and we were in the midst of the canyon. At one 
side the railroad was cut out of the rocks at the base of the 
cHff ; next the railroad was the Grand River and on the 
other side of the river was a narrow and winding drive road 
cut out of the rocks at a great expense by the State of Col- 
orado, which was called the Taylor State E.oad. It did not 
seem wide enough for two teams to pass, and two horsemen 
riding abreast seemed to fill it up. 

As we passed along a huge black bear was seen to 
come down a ravine, cross the Taylor road and leisurely 
drink from the stream. Perhaps bruin thought the editors 
were poor shots and he was in no danger from the party. 
The train did not even stop to let us have a shot at him. 
We now entered the canyon which is celebrated for its 
sublime beauty and grandeur. The canyon is so narrow 
and its sides so precipitous that there is not room for both 
the river and the railroad, so in many places a resting place 
for the iron rails had to be cut out of the rocky face of the 

234 






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RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




UP MARSHALL PASS, COLORADO 

cliff — an unparalled engineering feat. The river rushes 
along in a raging, turbulent and thundering torrent, slowly 
eating its way down through the adamantine bed; while 
above its foaming and leaping waters tower the mighty 
granite sides of the canyon seemingly reaching to the skies, 
being in places from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high. Yea, in 
places those walls of granite are so lofty and the canyon so 
narrow that the glorious sunshine never penetrates to the 
bottom, and there it is always "dim and religious twilight." 
We gazed with awe, wonder and admiration upon those 
mighty walls, which stand up like the towering battlements of 
some great fortress, lavishly painted in the colors of the rain- 
bow by nature's artist hands. The blending of the maroon, 
Vermillion, green, yellow, brown, purple and gray are most 
wonderful. The beholder can scarcely believe his eyes 

235 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

when he sees that wonderful and mysterious blending of 
colors; it does not seem possible that they are real and 
placed there by nature. 

The richest colors from the artist's palette are there in 
generous and harmonious profusion, such as feeble man 
would vainly attempt to imitate. The dim shades and 
lights in the bottom of the canyon, the dark blue waters oi 
the river, the gray and rugged boulders pushing up out of 
the stream, the lofty cliffs, with their beautiful colorings, 
and the clear sky, with its wonderful azure are combined to 
make the most marvelous and beautiful picture we ever be- 
held, and one that will linger long on the films of our mem- 
ory. Mere words are poor and weak and entirely inade- 
quate to paint the sublimity and grandeur of the scene. 

In many places the summits of the canyon's sides have 
shot up in rocky pinnacles closely resembling the towers, 
minarettes and steeples of mighty temples. The walls in 
many places are pierced with deep and dark caverns, in 
which man or beast may dwell in safety. At other places 
there are peculiar openings and formations in the sides of 
the canyon which did not look unlike the homes of the cliff 
dwellers. In many places the river took such sharp and 
sudden turns that the railroad had to be run through tun- 
nels in the projecting cliffs, and at one place we passed 
through a natural tunnel which the river, in ages long gone 
by, had bored through the granite shield. The ride through 
the canyon is one continuous panorama of nature's most 
sublime pictures, which awe, yet delight the beholder, and 
fill him with wonder and deep reverence for the Creator of 
all this beauty. 

Some miles farther on the canyon widens out and we 

236 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST, 
r 




EAGLE RIVER CANYON 

pass through the "lava beds." For miles and miles, on 
each side of the tracks, stretch the black lava deposits in 
fantastic shapes, which were cast there in the dim and misty 
past by some violent volcanic eruption. It is said that in 
these very lava beds the Indians were wont to take refuge 
when too hotly pursued by the troops. 

Later we entered the valley of the Eagle River where 
we saw many ranches and farmers cultivating crops and 
herding cattle. At Minturn station our train was cut in 
three sections to ascend the very steep grades starting there 
up over the mountain and through the beautiful and roman- 
tic scenery of the Eagle River canyon. It is July 2d as 
we thus ascend the mountain toward Tennessee Pass. The 
people in the east are sweltering in the heat, but just before 
we reach the pass we run into a fierce snow storm and the 
temperature gets unpleasantly cold. The scene is wonder- 

237 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

ful — here we are at an altitude of 10,240 feet above the sea 
level, within -3000 feet as high as Pikes Peak, and on all 
sides are seen lofty, snow-clad mountain peaks. The brake- 
man of our train informed us that it was a very common 
thing to run into snow storms at the pass, and that two 
years previous, in August, he had frozen his ears in cross- 
ing the pass. 

Tennessee Pass, Colorado, is said to be the highest 
point reached by a railroad, except one or two points in the 
Alps. Some of our party were made weak and drowsy and 
caused to bleed at the nose by the high altitude, while 
others were unaffected. At Tennessee Pass we rushed 
through a tunnel half a mile long and emerged on the At- 
lantic side of the Rocky Mountains, Our train was united 
here and we sped down the mountain hauled by a single 
engine. The waters on this side of the mountain flow 
toward the Atlantic Ocean, while on the other side of the 
pass they rush towards the Pacific Ocean. 

A short time later our train stopped and we alighted to 
gaze off in the distance at a mountain peak rising its lofty 
head above the sea. It is the Mountain of The Holy Cross. 
There, high on the side of the mountain, was the large 
white cross, bright and brilliant, its top almost reaching to 
the peak and its foot hundreds of feet down the mountain 
side. There, centuries ago, perhaps at the creation of the 
world, God planted in the very skies, and in the center of 
the continent, an indestructible sign by which all mankind 
should be reminded of Him who died to save the fallen 
race. One writer standing before that mount exclaimed: 
"Humble thyself, O man ! Uncover thy head and acknowl- 
edge thy weakness! Forget not that as high above thy 

238 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




MOUNT OF THE HOLY CROSS 

239 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

gilded spires gleams the splendor of this ever-living Cross, 
so are My thoughts above thy thoughts, and My ways 
above thy ways!" 

Some miles back, at Rifle, an old fashioned stage, with 
leather springs, such as the colonial fathers rode in, which 
was drawn by four white horses, met the train. The stage 
line runs from that point — miles back over the mountains 
to Meeker. It takes 24 hours to make the journey, and 
you have to pay $8 for riding in the antiquated coach that 
far, with an occasional hold up thrown in by way of variety. 
Some of us climbed into the coach and decided that it would 
be a very easy and comfortable conveyance. 

At Leadville Junction we were a couple of miles from 
that famous place of gold mines, and could see some of the 
town, but as the route mapped out for our journey did not 
include Leadville, we passed it on the side. We soon ap- 
proached the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River. This 
gorge is only seven miles in length, but is one of the grand- 
est spectacles of nature in the world, no other canyon pre- 
senting the same features of grandeur. As we entered the 
gorge and penetrated farther into it, the walls grew higher 
and higher, until they were 3,000 feet in heighth — over half 
a mile, straight up from the waters of the river toward the 
sky. There we were in the twilight, in the bottom of the 
gorge, while high up on the summits the noon day sun 
shone brightly. Here were the massive walls ol stone, at 
the bases dark and gray and toward the tops tinted with 
the rich blen dings of purple, brown, gold and silver, with a 
strength and majesty that defied both time and man. As 
our train moved along the canyon grew narrower and nar- 
rower, until there seemed scarcely room for both river and 

240 




THE CURRECANTI NEEDLE, FIFTEEN HUNDRED FEET 
HIGH, ON DENVER & RIO GRANDE RAILWAY 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THROUGH THE ROYAL GORGE. 

railroad. The river flowed in a deep channel scarcely 50 
feet wide, dashing and lashing the rocks in its fury at being 
so confined and restrained. At length we came to a place 
where there was in reality no room or foundation for the 
railroad, and the river flowed along in an almost fathomless, 
dark and turbulent stream — not unlike the river Styx. The 
ingenuity of man rose superior to the might of the river, 
and a hanging bridge was tied to the granite sides of the 
canyon, and the deep gulf spanned. When the train came 
to this hanging bridge it stopped and we alighted. From 

241 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

the edge of that Stygian stream we looked up to the sum- 
mits of the canyon and vainly sought to see the brilliant 
sun above. We stood awed, impressed and speechless at 
the sublimity and grandeur of the scene. The trainmen 
examined the condition of the bridge and then we passed 
over in safety. 

It is told that when the engineers constructing the line 
of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad came to this spot 
in the Royal Gorge where there was no foothold for the 
tracks, and found the river so deep and its current so fierce 
and strong they thought their labors lost, and that the work 
would have to be abandoned. One daring spirit suggested 
the idea of a hanging bridge. The idea was quickly 
grasped. So a number of workmen were taken miles around 
to the top of the canyon, and a brave employe was then 
lowered 3,000 feet down over the face of the cliffs to cut 
holes in the granite walls to which the first supports of the 
swinging bridge were anchored. The rest of the 'construc- 
tion was easy. The greatest and grandest scenic railway 
in the world thus became a possibility, and soon became a 
reality. Since then thousands upon thousands of travelers 
have passed in safety over that trembling bridge without a 
single tremor. We left that scene of sublime beauty with 
keen regret. 



242 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

PUEBLO — THE PITTSBURG OF THE WEST. 

EMERGING from the Royal Gorge we reached Can- 
yon City, the county seat of Fremont county, and the 
seat of the Colorado State penal institutions. That city 
has also become noted as a health and pleasure resort. 
From that city we passed through some grazing and farm- 
ing lands. 

We arrived the same evening at Pueblo, Colorado, in 



THE MINNEQUA STEEL WORKS, PUEBLO. 

time for supper at the Union station dining room. After 
supper the most of our party strolled about the city. Al- 
though it was Sabbath evening we found many shops and 
stores open, except the large commercial and mercantile es- 
tablishments. Pueblo is an important and progressive city 
of about 36,000 people. It is far in advance, commercially, 
of many other western cities, and is full of large and grow- 

243 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




SILVER AND GOLD SMELTER, iUEBl.0 

ing manufacturing industries. There are so many steel 
and iron works and manufactories in Pueblo that it has 
become known as the "Pittsburg of the West." The city 
has great wealth, fine business blocks, magnificent houses, 
complete railroad facilities, excellent public improvements 
and utilities. Many of the wealthiest, most progressive and 
public spirited of Pueblo's citizens are former Pennsylvan- 
ians, and they still have a warm spot in their hearts for the 
Keystone State and her people. This may account for the 
city's material prosperity and advancement into the ranks 
of the manufacturing and cosmopolitan cities. 

The motto of Pueblo is "Watch Our Smoke," thus 
directing attention to their several hundred manufacturing 

244 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




MAIN STREET, PUEBLO 

industries and silver ore smelters, which annually turn the 
raw materials into millions of bright golden dollars. The 
business of the city is of great magnitude, and last year the 
smelters and manufactories did upwards of $100,000,000 
worth of business. 

The monthly wages of the city's workmen exceed 
$1,500,000, while the toilers in the steel mills earn each 
month about $350,000. That much cash put into business 
circulation each month greatly stimulates the retail trade. 
The nine trunk line railroads entering the city are put to 
their utmost endeavors in handling the enormous volume of 
freight entering and leaving Pueblo. The city has over 
600 wholesale and retail business houses. There are 13 
up-to-date newspapers and publications in the city, 49 
churches and two libraries — the beautiful McClelland Li- 
brary and the handsome new Carnegie Library, just com- 
pleted. Pueblo is full of secret orders, lodges and clubs. 

245 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




UNION AVENUE, PUEBLO 

The principal ones are the Pueblo Club, the Minnequa 
Club and the Elk Club, all of which have handsome and 
imposing quarters. The park system is well planned and 
ably administered. There are nine of these beautiful pleas- 
ure grounds. There are many beautiful and magnificent 
homes within the confines of Pueblo, where generous hospi- 
tality and open-hearted friendship reign supreme. The 
architect, the artist and the landscape gardner have all done 
their best for Pueblo's homes. 

A great future apparently lies before Pueblo and its 
people. We regretted that our time did not allow us to 
visit Trinidad and other interesting places in Southern 
Colorado. 



246 




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CHAPTER XXXIV. 



COLORADO SPRINGS — THE SCENIC SPOT OF AMERICA — 

pike's peak, the SUBLIME — MANITOU, THE 

PICTURESQUE. 

AT 9 o'clock Sunday night our special train pulled out 
for Colorado Springs, arriving at that city at 10 o'clock 
the same evening. Some of our party remained over night 

in Pueblo and rejoined us 
on Monday morning at 
Colorado Springs. Of the 
Colorado health and pleas- 
ure resorts Colorado 
Springs is the best known 
and most famous. The 
city has a population ol 
30,000 people, and is sur- 
HOTEL ANTLERS rounded by some of the 

greatest scenic wonders of the world. At its very doors the 
great Pike's Peak rears its snowy and sun-lit top in the 
midst of strange rock formations, mighty canyons and 
sparkling mineral springs. The city is located on a large 
plateau 6,915 feet above the level of the sea, and its cHmate 
is most wonderful — never too hot nor too cold, but always 
dry, bracing, refreshing and health-giving, with 315 days 
of the year brilliant sunshine and gentle breezes. It has 

247 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




CASCADE AVENUE 

been appropriately called "The City of Sunshine." Colo- 
rado Springs is becoming so well known and famous that 
no trip to the West or the Pacific Coast is considered com- 
plete without a visit to the Springs. The winter climate is 
said to be even more glorious and bracing than that of sum- 
mer. The city is the center ol attraction of the grandest 
Rocky Mountain scenery. Three miles away to the south 
is the entrance to the beautiful and romantic South Chey- 
enne canyon. The same distance to the north we find the 
entrance to the picturesque scenery of North Cheyenne can- 
yon. Farther on is Cheyenne Mountain, crowned by the 
Seven Lakes. Five miles to the west is Manitou, with its 
famous and health-giving iron and soda springs, which the 
Indians of old believed were blest and troubled by the spirit 
of Manitou for their healing. Thirty miles southwest, 
reached by the Cripple Creek Railroad through mountain 

248 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




VIEW OF pike's peak FROM COLORADO SPRINGS 
scenery of unequalled beauty, is the famous Cripple Creek, 
a gold mining city of 50,000 people, whose mines last year 
produced $25,000,000 worth of gold. Three miles to the 
northwest is the marvelous ''Garden of the Gods." 

Colorado Springs is well supplied with hotels, large 
and small, and many boarding houses to accommodate the 
thousands of tourists who visit them annually. The swell 
hotel of the place is the Antlers, erected at an expense of 
$500,000, with all the comforts of life so much demanded 
by the fastidious and wealthy tourists. The hotel is of 
beautiful and massive architecture ; is built of buff brick and 
sand stone, and is entirely fire-proof. It has a ball room 
50x85 feet, with a stage, so that it can be used as a thea- 
tre. Its rotunda is 53x90 feet, and the dining room 50x90 
feet. The hotel can accommodate 500 guests. The Ant- 
lers is conducted in the most modern and skillful manner by 

249 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST'. 




BRODAMOOR CASINO, COLORADO SPRINGS 

Mr. L. A. Kittredge, formerly of Kenilvvorth Inn, Biltmore, 
Ashville, North Carolina. The Alta Vista Hotel, the 
Alamo and the Plaza are other modern hotels catering to a 
large class of patrons at Colorado Springs. 

The first thing the tourist wants to do at Colorado 
Springs is climb to the snowy summit of Pike's Peak, 
which has an elevation of 14,147 feet, and is one of the 
highest mountains in the world. There are three ways of 
ascending Pike's Peak^ by foot, ( tedious climbing ) on 
horseback or by burro and by the cogwheel steam railroad. 
The favorite plan is to go up early by the cogwheel route 
and see the sun rise from that lofty perch. This plan was 
adopted by most of our party. They arose early and went 
to Manitou, the starting place of tlie railroad, determined to 
"Reach Pike's Peak or bust." From the starting point to 
the top of the Peak by rail is 91 miles of slow, tedious and 

250 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




COG ROAD STATION, MANITOU 

torturing riding. That little bit of crooked road was built 
with great difficulty, and at an outlay of half a million dol- 
lars of very hard cash. 

Half way up the mountain an enterprising newspaper 
"devil" has located a small press and publishes daily The 
Pike's Peak News. Before the train leaves Manitou the 
names of the visitors are 'phoned up to the editor, and by 
the time your car reaches the half-way house the sheet is 
published, and in it appears your name as one of those who 
had that day ascended Pike's Peak. You willingly part 
with ten cents for a copy of the paper. The Daily Pike's 
Peak News has proven a veritable gold mine to its pub- 
lisher. Notwithstanding the early rising of our editors the 
sun had arisen before they gained the summit, yet none re- 
gretted their lost sleep, labor and fear in ascending the 
Peak, for there spread before the vision was one of the 
grandest and most beautiful sights the eyes of mortal man 
ever looked upon. What a mighty picture it was. There 
spread out was a mighty panorama of 60,000 square miles 

251 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




through the devil's doorway, 
pike's peak railway 

of mountains, plains, valleys and vales, dotted here and 
there with cities, towns and villages, with rivers and rivu- 
lets tracing their threads of silver in serpentine lines in all 
directions, while the lakes looked like unto silver mirrors 
framed in brown and green, and the railroads in the far dis- 
tance, with their toy-like trains, looked like the work of 
midgets. The Ratoon Mountains and Spanish peaks of 
New Mexico, the glistening, snowy crests of the Sangre de 
Cristo range and many high peaks from 60 to 150 miles 
away, are seen clearly. Just think of being able to look 
down on such a glorious panorama, almost a third again as 
large as the entire State oi Pennsylvania ! Such a sight 
once seen will never be forgotten. 

Pike's Peak is history — a strange, hushed romance. 
Oblivion veils its mystic past. No crumbling parchment 
hints its thrilling tales. Yet it is older, so scientists relate^ 
than regions that are thus gazetted. Men lived and 
wrought in the long ago. The great white mountain 

252 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




MESA ROAD AND ENTRACE TO GLEN 
EYRIE, COLORADO SPRINGS 
watched it all and locked the mighty secrets in its breast. 
Authentic lore of this monument of the continent dates from 
November 13th, 1806, when Major Zebulon M. Pike, a 
gallant soldier and a daring adventurer, then heading a 
small exploring party of United States soldiers, sighted the 
mountain's whitened crest, when many miles distant upon 
the plains- It cost him ten days' marching to reach its 

253 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 





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IN THE UTE PASS, OVERLOOKING MANITOU 

base, and after vigorous attempts to scale it. Pike aband- 
oned the project with the declaration that "No human being 
could ascend to its pinacle," That was long ago. There 
have been many wonders since. The United States has 
one of its most important signal stations on the top of 
Pike's Peak, where most valuable observations are made 
and hearlded to the world. The time to return eastward 
came all too quickly, and loath to depart our party took a 
last lingering look at the grand master piece. 

The party left the cogwheel train at Manitou station, 
and the greatest trip of their life was a thing of the past. 
The situation of the Manitou health resort is one of beauty 
and grandeur, nestling at the foot of the mighty snow-cap- 
ged mountains and surrounded by the everlasting hills. It 
has delightful parks, romantic, winding paths, cool, shaded 
and arcaded nooks, a very world of scenic beauty crowded 

254 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




ON THE BEAR CREEK CANYON ROAD 

all about. There are many fine hotels and hundreds of 
good boarding houses to accommodate the pleasure-seeker, 
as well as the ones in search of health. We even saw one 
hotel with the familiar old name Juniata House blazoned in 
gold over its doors. We tarried, drank copiously of the 
clear crystal waters from sparkling and effervescent foun- 
tains, were refreshed and received our share of health. A 
band gives concerts in the park afternoons and evenings. 
A number of our party took advantage of the occasion 
of a delay at Colorado Springs to journey up over the 
Cripple Creek Railroad. It is a road of great engineering 
feats. There are many and most tortuous curves, climbing 
steadily up the mountains, fairly leaping the gorges from 
peak to peak; over canyons and crags from the time it starts 
until it reaches the "Land of Gold," 45 miles away, at 
Cripple Creek. It is a glorious trip, ever increasing in 

255 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




CITY HALL, COLORADO SPRINGS 

beauty and grandeur as the rails reach higher and higher 
and higher toward the clouds. It is climb, climb, all the 
time until the train reaches an altitude of 9,490 feet above 
the sea at Cripple Creek. We passed through the romantic 
Bear canyon, the gigantic rocks at Point Sublime arose 
before us, and far below, nesthng at the foot of the moun- 
tains, we could see Manitou, Colorado City and Colorado 
Springs. On the right extends the beauties of North 
Cheyenne canyon, while hundred of feet above spring the 
Silver Cascade Falls, whose waters, in the early morning 
light, look like the silvery tresses of the Frost Sprite. A 
little further on the railroad winds around the sides of St. 
Peter's Dome — that majestic peak, not unlike in shape to 
the famous St. Peter's Dome, of Rome, towers thousands of 
feet in the air, and the massive pile of granite stands out 
alone as if guarding the innermost secrets of the mountains. 

256 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE GARDEN OF THE GODS — THE ENCHANTED INDIAN 
TEMPLE OF THE GREAT SPIRIT MANITOU. 

OF all the grand, sublime and striking natural scenes 
among the mountain marvels of the "Land of the 
Turquoise Sky" ( Colorado ) none is more peculiar, more 
interesting, so awe-inspring and more frequently visited 
than the world-famous Garden of the Gods, near Colorado 
Springs. The Garden of the Gods is easily and quickly 
reached by carriages or trolley cars from Colorado Springs 
or Manitou. Around this most remarkable locality cluster 
many beautiful, poetic and weird legends. 

The Garden of the Gods was so named because, in 
the ages past, it was the worshiping place of the mighty 
Indians — the Temple of the Great God, the Great Spirit 
Manitou, and of all the host of lesser divinities. Here came 
the grave, silent and dignified Indian warrior in the pano- 
ply of paint, beads and feathers, with all his important pe- 
titions, supplicating the favor, support and protection of the 
Great Spirit Manitou for his success in the chase and vic- 
tory in war over his foes. To the fanciful and superstitious 
redskins the strange and weird figures, into which the God 
of Nature had fashioned and moulded the towering rocks, 
were his divinities, and in the mysterious sounds in the Echo- 
ing Cave he heard the voice of the Great Spirit Manitou 

257 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




ENTRANCE TO THE GARDEN OF THE GODS 

giving reply to his earnest prayers. After hearing some cf 
these weird legends the white man approaches the Garden 
of the Gods subdued and awed by the strange mysteries 
clinging around the spot. The entrance, or the gateway, 
as it is called, is most impressive to the beholder, and one 
pauses ere he enters therein. On either side cf the pass- 
ageway stand two immense and mighty slabs, or pillars, of 
red sand stone, soft, warm and beautiful in color, which 
tower over 300 feet up into the air, as if forbidding the mor- 
tal from entering the sacred precincts of that temple. A 
huge boulder, rusty with age, stands just a little way within 
the entrance, as if rolled back at the command of the Great 
Spirit Manitou to allow liis worshipers to enter there. It is 
said that during the famous campaign in Egypt the great 
Napoleon, to im.press his soldiers and excite the ''Old 
Guard" to their best and most valiant efforts in the ap- 

258 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




BALANCED ROCK, GARDEN OF THE GODS 

preaching battle, told them that 4,000 years looked down 
upon them from the ancient pyramids ; but here in the sen- 
tinels of the gateway of the Garden of the Gods, untold 
ages look down upon, awe and impress the beholder with 
their might and mystery. The mossiness of the rocks, the 
rich colorings of dark reds, light reds, purple, bright yel- 
low, orange, bronze and green, all in harmonious blendings, 
excite the wonder and admiration of the spectator. Once 

259 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




CATHEDRAL SPIRES, GARDEN OF THE GODS 

the Gateway is passed fresh wonder after wonder greets the 
gaze of the impressed beholder as he advances inward. 
All manner of strange shapes and forms are seen in the 
massive, isolated rocks which stand out on all sides — here 
the ''Cathedral Spires," with their high, massive and won- 
derful shapes, excite our admiration and wonder, and we 
can well imagine them to be like unto the mighty towers 
fronting on ancient and beautiful cathedrals. There, on all 

260 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

sides, in the still rocks, are observed weird figures of men 
and animals strikingly true to nature — the Kneeling Camel, 
the Dolphin, the Lion, the Griffin, the Bear, the Seal, the 
Kissing Camels, the Statue of Liberty and so on. The 
interest, beauty and grandeur increases as one progresses 
through the garden, wonder following wonder, marvel suc- 
ceeding marvel, until the farthest end is reached, and we 
come to a great mass of red sand stone weighing thousands 
of tons — the Balanced rock — standing upon a small pin- 
nacle. It looks as if some mighty giant hand in past ages 
had cast it down from the mountain summits above, and it 
fell there immovably fixed, looking insecure and ready to 
topple over; yet neither the power of man, nor the might of 
wind, nor the tempests in all the ages that have come and 
gone have been able to shake or hurl it from its resting 
place. There it stands in its majesty and in defiance of all 
the powers that be, a mighty monument. 

The ghostly voices in the Echoing Cave gave one a 
feeling of oppressive awe and fear, and we wondered not 
that the superstitious and fanciful Indian imagined that he 
heard therein the voice of the Great Spirit Manitou. 

From that most interesting and remarkable place we 
departed deeply impressed by the wonderful and mysterious 
workings of Nature's God. 



261 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



SOUTH CHEYENNE CANYON — THE SPOT OF POETIC 
BEAUTY AND ROMANCE. 

|F all the beauty spots close to Colorado Springs we 
found South Cheyenne Canyon to be the most en- 
trancing and romantically 
beautiful. No visit to that 
neighborhood can be complete 
or satisfactory without a visit 
being made to South Cheyenne 
Canyon. Its beauty has been 
sung by poets; lecturers have 
vainly struggled to portray its 
beauty in words, and painters 
have mixed in vain their colors 
trying to transfer its beauties 
upon the canvas. So loved 
Helen Hunt the spot that 
while at death's sombre portal 
she thought of it with loving 
longing, and made the request 
that her body be laid to rest 
on the high mountain over- 
looking the Seven Falls. Her 
RAINBOW FALLS, UTE PASS dying v^^ish was complied with, 

262 




RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




AT THE HEAD OF THE SEVEN FALLS 

and her bcdy was borne forth by sorrowing friends and laid 
to rest in a rocky grave on that lonely mountain-top with 
only the Seven Falls to stand guard there. 

We visited South Cheyenne Falls under the most 
favorable circumstances. The day was perfect, the sky- 
was of the deepest blue and the air was dry, exhilarating 
and bracing. We choose, as we thought, the only proper 
way cf seeing the canyon — to go on foot, side by side with 

263 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE HELEN HUNT FALLS 

nature, with no hurrying jehu to rush us along, or any 
guide hired by the hour to hurry us past the things we 
wanted to look longest at, or to give us a glibe story about 
some rock and knock all the romance out of it. The can- 
yon is a little over three miles long and the ascent is grad- 
ual along the well-made road, but the paths up and over 
the mountain sides are high and toilsome. The entrance 
to the canyon is a scene of peace, harmony and beauty. 

264 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 



There was a babbling brook singing merrily over the moss- 
covered stones, while on the banks sweetly sang the wild 
birds in their happy liberty. By the pathway sprang all 
manner of beautiful wild flowers of every hue and tint, rais- 
ing their sweet faces to the brilliant morning sun, chief 

among them being Colo- 
rado's State flower, the 
beautiful, stately and fra- 
grant columbine, with its 
// petals painted a lovely blue 
to match the eyes of the 
sky. The graceful bushes 
and the tall pine trees with 
their dark green foliage 
against the dark granite 
cliffs, made a picture of 
wonderous beauty. The 
road follows closely the 
windings of the brook, 
curving and turning thro' 
the forest until it emerges 
.at the very portals of the 
X the canyon. Here a pic- 
ture of majestic beauty con- 
fronted us. The granite 
mountain stands before you 
cleft in twain as though 




THE SEVEN FALLS 



the mighty hand of a giant Titan had parted it that we 
might walk through and see the beauties and wonders with- 
in. On the right is a high and massive peak of beautiful 
colored granite called Eagle Cliff, because on that high 

265 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




ON THE DRIVEWAY, NORTH CHEYENNE CANYON 

elevation the lordly eagle has seen fit to build his 
home. In front of you is Mount Cutler, another granite 
giant of the ages, on whose rugged sides are two peculiar 
rock formations, the one called the "Vacant Chair" and the 
other the "Hindoo Baby." 

At the gateway of the canyon we found in front of us 
two lofty granite peaks towering up 1,300 feet into the sky, 
standing apart just far enough to allow the brook and the 

266 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




ON BEAR CREEK CANYON ROAD 

road to pass between. These gigantic pillars, thus guard- 
ing the portals of the canyon, have been rightly named the 
"Pillars of Hercules." By these mighty resting supports 
of Hercules mere mortal man seems little, insignificant and 
impotent. Passing between the pillars on the left may be 
seen the high summit of Observation Point whence a fine 
view may be had of the canyon and lands below. A short 
distance beyond we came to a place in the canyon of rended 
and shattered rocks, looking as though some volcantic 
eruption had shattered and tossed them about. 

To the left a bridle-path crosses the crystal brook, 
winding back and forth along the edge of the canyon and 
over the side of Observation Point, until the summit is finally 
reached, where is found the romantic grave of the poetess, 
Helen Hunt Jackson, like unto that lonely grave on Mount 
Nebo's lofty heights. We passed through the narrows, 

267 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




WEIRD ROCK FORMATlUiNS, MOxNUMENT PARK 

with their massive, lofty and frowning diffs, which seem to 
defy the warfare of time and the elements. Passing by the 
bridle-path, proceeding up the canyon, along the main 
drive-road, we soon entered a mighty ampitheatre surround- 
ed by high, frowning granite cliffs. At the farthest end is 
the beautiful and magnificent display of the Seven Falls, 
whose silvery streams plunge in a foaming, ghttering tor- 
rent from the rocks 234 feet above, in seven distinct leaps 

268 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




BRIDGE OF SIGHS, MONUMENT PARK 

to the pool below. These falls have a peculiar beauty and 
grandeur all their own which appeal to and strongly move 
the most stolid and unpoetic mind. And these are the falls 
that Helen Hunt Jackson loved so well. The owners of 
the South Cheyenne Canyon have built a safe and easy 
stairway up the side of the cliffs, so that one can mount to 
the summit of the Seven Falls and view the beauties of the 
dashing and leaping waters from above. We climbed those 
300 steps. Farther along the stream are seen the graceful 
Bridal Veil Falls, the Midnight Falls and the silvery Juan- 
iata Falls. The west branch of the stream is fed by the 
melting snows of Mount Rosa, and flows through Arapahoe 
Pass. The brook there flows over giant rocks and through 
mossy banks dotted with the most fragrant of wild flowers. 
There is fragrant columbine in white, blue and yellow; the 
gaudy tiger lily, the modest primrose, lady slippers, shoot- 

269 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




THE COLONADE, MONUMENT PARK 

ing stars, buttercups and sweet violets. The place is one 
of alluring beauty, quiet and enchantment. Had the time 
permitted we would have penetrated farther along the stream 
seeing new features of beauty at each step, but we had 
there to pause and retrace our steps to Colorado Springs. 



270 



CHAPTER XXXVn. 

DENVER — THE CITY OF SUNSHINE — THE PARTING 
OF THE WAYS. 

REACHING Colorado Springs the special train was in 
readiness to carry our party on to Denver, and we 
were soon rolling northward. Some distance north of Col- 
orado Springs we passed Palmer Lake, which has grown to 
be a very popular and attractive summer resort. In the 75 
mile run up to Denver over the rails of the Denver and Rio 
Grand P.ailroad we passed many very flourishing ranches, 
with hundreds of sleek cattle grazing on the ranges. On 
our arrival Monday afternoon, July 3, at the Union station, 
Denver, we were met by a committee of the Chamber of 
Commerce. Headed by a brass band we were conducted 
to the palatial Hotel Savoy, Denver's newest hotel, where 
we were served with an elaborate luncheon. This was the 
most enjoyable luncheon served on the entire tour. 

Mayor Speer, of the city, the Secretary of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce, and other notables made addresses of 
welcome, giving us the keys of the city and ample police 
protection. The response for the editorial party was made 
in a very felicitous manner by Mr. Addison B. Burk, of 
Philadelphia. At the conclusion of the speeches we entered 
the special cars in waiting and spent two hours in seeing 
all the best sights of the city, being much interested, pleased 

271 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




VIEW OF SIXTEENTH STREET, DENVER 

and surprised at the beauty, extent and thrift of the pro- 
gressive city. Denver, the capital of Colorado, is a won- 
derful city. It is the most progressive, substantial and cos- 
mopolitan city of the west. It fact it looks just like a sub- 
stantial eastern city picked up bodily and set down out on 
the plains, there to be a shining Hght and example for the 
rest of the western country. There is nothing shoddy about 
it. The State capitol is a beautiful, massive structure. All 
its public buildings are substantial and imposing structures. 
The business blocks are large and of the best style and 
character in the land. Its manufacturing plants are large 
and well conducted. The city is full of palatial homes of 
the rich, and the people of moderate means have handsome 
and well-designed houses. Not a single frame house is 

272 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




VIEW OF SEVENTEENTH STREET, DENVER 

allowed to be built in the city. Each house stand far back 
from the street with a beautiful lawn in front. The parks 
are many, large, well planned and beautiful. The streets 
are wide, well paved, well kept and adorned with fine, lux- 
uriant shade trees. The public utilities — the electric light, 
gas, water works and street car lines are all modern, com- 
plete and well managed. The city is full ol hotels from 
the highest priced down to the most modest hostlery, which 
are capable of taking care of the largest conventions that 
enter its gates. While we were there thousands of the 
members of the Epworth League of the United States were 
gathering in the city for their annual convention. 

The Denverites are great home shouters. They say 
"Denver is the most desirable residence city in the world." 
Here every breeze bears health upon its wings. It has no 
blizzards, no biting winds, no drizzling rains, no slush and 

273 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




UNION STATION, DENVER 

no fog. They have 304 days of sunshine every year. It 
is a city of the plains, but has a mighty bulwark of protec- 
tion on the west in the majestic ranges of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, shielding it from the fierce winds. It stands on a 
plateau a mile abDve the level of the sea. It is a curious 
and not generally known coincidence that Denver sits in the 
same altitude as the famous cities ol Pekin, China; Naples, 
Lisbon, Constantinople and Bokhara. Many easterners 
have gone to Denver in search of renewed health, or on a 
visit and were so infatuated with the beautiful city and its 
glorious climate that they stopped, tarried and continued to 
stay on there forever. We have tasted its pleasures and 
attractions and know that it is a good place to stay in. We 
were loath to leave, but the schedule compelled our party 
to start that night. 

The special train was broken up that night so that the 

274 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 




UNION DEPOT, PUEBLO, COLORADO 

various members of our party might more conveniently 
reach their distant abiding places. Some of the cars went 
east over the popular Burhngton route; some journeyed by 
the old standby, the Union Pacific; some hastened over the 
famous Santa Fe, and the Pennsylvania and Ohio members 
were rushed over the interesting Rock Island to St. Louis. 
The trains were somewhat delayed by floods which had 
badly washed the tracks in a number of places in Kansas. 
The entire 4th of July was spent rushing through the vast 
corn fields of Kansas, which cannot be called "bleeding Kan- 
sas" any more, for that immense com crop meant gold dol- 
lars by the bushels to the farmers to cure their "bleeding" 
ills. 

The Pennsylvanians, the Ohio boys and some New 
York orphans were not be cheated out of their old-fashioned 

275 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Fourth of July celebration, so speeches, songs and fire- 
works were the order of the day on the cars, and the fitting 
climax of it all was the following impromptu original poem 
delivered by our poet, Mr. James H. Potts, of The Times, 
Troy, New York: 

THE PILGRIM'S FOURTH. 

Is this our country's natal day. 
And we upon the pilgrims' way? 
Where are the festive hours we know 
In homes we left long weeks ago? 

The din that rose with morning's sun 

Leave us in quiet, every one; 

For cannon's mouth at break of dawn 

The echoes of the cannon's yawn ; 

For powder grains that flew like hail 

The brief torpedo of the rail ; 

For Chinese cracker and its wheeze 

The other kind, that came with cheese; 

For the revolver's warning bark 

Revolving wheels in day and dark; 

For proud drum major shining far 

The modest captain of a car; 

No blood that bids the surgeon pause, 

But "bleeding Kansas'" watery laws. 

And yet the glory of the sun 
Is brighter than the rocket's run. 
The breadth of meeting land and sky 
Grander than the fire-works of July ; 
And here where merges South and North 
We celebrate the patriot's Fourth. 

Who can with keener sight than we, 
The travelers from sea to sea. 
Discern the wonders wrought for men 
When flowed the Declaration pen? 

276 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

From states that know the Atlantic's surge 

We crossed the Mississippi's verge; 

Saw Oklahoma peering far, 

Await the rising of its star; 

Like boys who from the table rise 

The Texan wondered at his size ; 

EI Paso strode the stream below 

To kiss the maids of Mexico; 

While Arizona's torrid beam 

Proved the mirage was not a dream. 

Will ever California's breath 
That wooed us from the Vale of Death 
Be lost to memory's deep grand state ? 
Not till Heaven opes its Golden Gate. 
Midst ancient spires that seek the skies 
An exposition's towers arise; 
Lewis and Clarke a century greets ' 
From palace homes and busy streets. 

The whisper of the Mormon hall 

Swells to a roar while pledging all 

To make of Utah such a state 

As, pure and loyal, must be great. 

As Shasta's glistening summit high 

From redwoods rose to azure sky. 

So Colorado's colors true, 

Soil red, white mountains, heavens of blue. 

No loiterers v/e on foreign strand. 

We're in the heart of Union land. 

Nor have the giants of the past 
Vanished from out the picture vast; 
The fathers had their Washington, 
We glory in a later son, 
And all the pride the patriots felt 
Glows at the name of Roosevelt. 

Between his death and burial lies, 

277 



RAMBLES IN THE FAR WEST. 

Where tinged with gloom are festal skies, 

One who from our own writing guild 

Was in diplomacy most skilled. 

Lo! pendent from the flag 

Grief's streamer for the death of Hay ! 

Westward let empire take its way, 

We're going East, perhaps to stay ; 

But East and West, with South and North, 

Proclaim an undivided Fourth. 

Pacific union is our boast, 

Union Pacific now our host ; 

And though like wise men from afar 

We traveling seek home's guiding star. 

The day, the place, we understand ; 

July the Fourth ! our dear land ! 

St. Louis, Missouri, at last was reached, and the party 
separated to go each his own way to his beloved hearth- 
stone. After five weeks of journeyings with genial com- 
panions, traveling over 10,000 miles of railroads, big and 
small ; seeing the greatest, grandest and most sublime sights 
of Nature in the greatest Empire on the face of the earth ; 
viewing the manifold and wonderful works of man ; tasting 
the delights of life, and experiencing unbounded courtesy 
and generous hospitality of our brethren of the western part 
of our mighty Empire, the most glorious journey of our 
Association was done. We parted with the tablets of our 
minds stored with the most beautiful pictures, and in our 
memories happy recollections of unalloyed pleasures. 



THE END. 



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